I ah v^ 1*1 -4 WI <^!? THE LITTLE KING ~l On Christmas mornings he was compelled to sit up in his great bed of state, while gorgeous courtiers knelt beside him offering rich gifts. THE LITTLE KING A Story of the Childhood of Louis King of France By Charles Major Author of "When Knighthood was in Flower", "Dorothy Vernon' "The Bears of Blue River", etc. M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OT AMERICA. COPYRIGHT, iyio, BY THE ILLUSTRATED SUNDAY MAGAZINE. COPYRIGHT, 1909 AND igiO, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published Norember, 1910. Reprintei September, 1915. Co @P Wife S13721S CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK I. How Christmas Came to The Little King . . 3 II. Sweet Mam'selle's Rosary 39 III. Two Smiles and a Duel 70 IV. The Little King Lost in Paris .... zoo LA SAINTE CROIX V. A Jew Three Thousand Years Old .... 137 VI. The Old Cloister House 157 VII. The King and The Jew . .... 383 VIII. Black Magic 206 IX. Blackest Magic 339 vii CHAPTER I THE Little King, destined to become the great King, Louis Le Grand, of France, had always found Christmas a dull day. Even at the age of eight he had begun to realize that every day was dull, and though he had heard a great deal about the joys of Christmas, he had found it the dullest of them all, and did not understand why other folks pretended to love it. On Christmas mornings he was compelled to sit up in his great bed of state, while gorgeous courtiers knelt beside him offering rich gifts for which he did not care a fig. After breakfast, to mass, which was easily endured, because every one remained quiet and the low, rolling voice 3 4 THE LITTLE KING of the priest was soothing. But after mass he had to sit in stiff, insufferable robes while gifts of which he knew nothing were distributed in his name to courtiers for whom he cared nothing. After the distribution of the presents, the tired Little King stood on the royal dais in one of the state chambers receiving guests till near noon, when he dined in solitary grandeur. Christmas Days to the Little King were but blurred mem- ories of a desire to cry, suppressed only by almost superchildish effort. Every day Christmas included the King had a few hours of rest after dinner. Usually this lax time was devoted to a nap in his private bedroom adjoining the boudoir of his nurse, the Sweet Mam'selle, a name the King had given her and by which she was known throughout the court. Frequently on pleasant days, after his nap, the King went with his nurse to walk in the little hedged garden beneath his window, set apart in the beautiful court of the Palais Royal for the King's exclusive use. One day Sweet Mam'selle opened a private door called the King's Postern, to which she car- THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 5 ried the key, and the two passed through a tunnel-like hallway, unlocked the outer door and were in the street. That was a glorious adven- ture for the Little King, and afterwards, when he felt tired and blue, and life seemed a failure, he would say: "Let us go out into the street, Sweet Mam- 'selle." But it was a delight seldom to be enjoyed. If the Queen Regent or Cardinal Mazarin were to learn that Mam'selle had exposed the King to the gaze and mayhap the touch of the common people on the street, she would surely receive a reprimand, probably would be dismissed and might be imprisoned. But the Little King's unhappiness was so real, and his joy in these excursions was so keen that Sweet Mam'selle could not always resist the child's pleadings. On a certain Christmas Day, the eighth year of the Little King's life and the third of his reign, his royal duties seemed especially irksome, and when dinner was finished, he hurried with Sweet Mam'selle to his bedroom, longing above all things to give vent to his weariness in tears. 6 THE LITTLE KING But he was a manly, kingly little fellow, sedate and thoughtful beyond his years, so he held back his tears, as a real king should, and bore his troubles stolidly, as a real man will. With Sweet Mam'selle's help the stiff brocades, the rare laces and the costly jewels fell from the Little King to the floor, and he lay down on his low, soft bed for a nap. Mam'selle, busy with her needlework, stood leaning against the window shelf; for no one in France save the Queen Mother was permitted to sit in the King's presence. Presently Mam'selle heard a sob, and turning toward the King, saw him sitting on the edge of the bed. Drowsiness had broken the back of kingliness; so exercising a tired child's privilege, Louis XIV was whimpering softly, pathetically. Mam'selle ran to the dais and knelt beside the King, who put his arm about her neck, rested his cheek against hers, and enjoyed the luxury of a good cry. What the King needed above all else was a mother, but Anne of Austria's motherhood consisted chiefly of title. Fortunately Mam'selle was a sweet and loving substitute, but THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 7 there is no place where a child can be so delight- fully miserable as on his mother's breast. "What is it, my King?" asked Sweet Mam- 'selle, tenderly. "I don't know," answered the Little King. "I just want to to cry. I I don't want to stay here. Isn't there some place we can go? I'm so tired." "Yes, yes, my King. I know, I know," whis- pered Sweet Mam'selle, caressingly. Her sym- pathy of course set the tears flowing afresh and soon her eyes, too, were moist. The King, seeing Mam'selle's tears, brushed them away with his hand, saying: "Are you, too, tired, Sweet Mam'selle?" "No, no, my King. I weep because you are tired. Because you are denied the divine right of being a child. My poor King! My sweet King!" "Then we are both unhappy when I'm un- happy?" asked the King, brushing away his own tears in a desire to save Mam'selle, "Yes, yes, my sweet King. I am unhappy because you because you " 8 THE LITTLE KING "But I am the King. I am Louis XIV," interrupted the Little King, trying with poor success to stay his sobs and to live up to the demands of royalty. After a minute or two of silence, a smile broke through the royal tears, as the sun shines through an April shower, and a fair bow of promise lighted up the Little King's sorrowful face. "I know how we may both be happy!" he cried, clapping his hands delightedly. "How, my King?" asked Sweet Mam'selle. "Let us go to the garden, and when no one is watching, we'll escape through the little door and go for a walk. We'll walk 'way down past the Louvre 'way, 'way further than we have ever gone, Sweet Mam'selle; oh, so far, because this has been such a hard Christmas Day; and oh, Sweet Mam'selle, we'll go over where the poor people live. Of course we dare not go down among the shops. That would be too much for a Little King to expect. But maybe we can go as far as the river, the dark, murky, beautiful river back of Notre Dame where so many poor people live. Oh, come, come, Sweet THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 9 Mam'selle! Oh, I love you so dearly!" He kissed her tenderly by way of bribe and continued rapidly: "Fetch me my plainest, darkest suit, and after all, this Christmas Day won't be so so horrid.'* "Oh, I dare not, I dare not," answered Mam- 'selle, pleadingly. "Oh, please, Sweet Mam'selle. You are so beautiful and so good. There now, I kiss your eyes to stop the tears. I did try so hard to be good all morning." "Yes, yes, my King, you were good. You were perfect a perfect King. But I dare not take you to walk in the street to-day." "Please, Sweet Mam'selle. I am the King and I might say 'You shall take me, Mam'selle.* But I love you so dearly that I say 'Please take me, Sweet Mam'selle.' Oh, I do so want to go, for I am so tired. Your King kneels to you, Sweet Mam'selle, and begs " The Little King fell to his knees beside her and Mam'selle, frightened at the thought of kneeling royalty, exclaimed: "Rise, my King, rise! You must kneel to none but Godl" io THE LITTLE KING "I'll not rise till you promise to take me t( the river," answered the King, pleadingly thougl defiantly. Mam'selle could resist no longer, so sb said: "I'll take you, my King, if I die for it." So amid a great deal of suppressed laughter hushed whispering and joyous dancing, the Lit tie King donned his plainest suit and Mam 'selle, going to her boudoir put on her plaines gown. When both were ready, and very nervous Mam'selle unlocked the door, at the top of th< narrow stairway leading to the King's garden anc the adventurers hurried down. Softly the outei door was opened; still more softly they rar toward the King's Postern, seeking the cover oi the evergreens and hedges as they went. With beating hearts they opened the little door with Mam'selle's magic key, and hurried through the dark, narrow hallway to the street door. Ther followed the thrilling moment of escape and n delicious breath of the sweet street air. The Little King wanted to do something tc THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS ii express his joy, but his whole life had been so artificial that he did not know how. Had he been "just boy" he would have known that his longing was nature calling him to shout, to run, to jump and to walk in the mud, where he might accumulate enough sweet luxurious dirt to drive his mother if he had had a real'''! one temporarily wild. But cruel fate had de- nied him the sweet knowledge of things that are really worth while doing and he was forced to content him- self with clinging to Mam'selle's hand, skipping in a stiff kingly fashion by her side and draw- ing in great breaths of the sweet forbidden air. Mam'selle hugged the wall of the Palais Royal and hurried across the open space between the Louvre and the Garden of the Tuileries. When they reached the street, since called Quai du Louvre, they turned and walked close to the wall 12 THE LITTLE KING of the Louvre until they reached the lower end of the long palace. Then she said: "Shall we turn back, my King?" "No, no," pleaded little Majesty. "You prom- ised to take me to the river and perhaps down the rivage a little way down back of Notre Dame where the poor people live." "Alas, the poor people live everywhere in Paris, my King," she answered. "But I did not promise to take you to the river. I " "You did promise, Mam'selle," returned the King, with an amusing touch of kingly anger. "You did promise and for you to say that you did not is to contradict your King. That would be a sin and would make most kings angry. But I am a good king and I love you, so if you promise never to do so again, I'll forgive you." Mam'selle smiled and drew the King to her side. "If I did promise, my King " "If?" cried the King. "That is as much as to say that the King did not tell the truth when he said you did promise. It is well for you, Mam'selle, that I am a good king and that I love you so dearly." THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 13 Mam'selle had to shape another course in sail- ing through the winding channels and between the rocks and shoals of royal whims and priv- ileges. "Then I shall say 'though I did make the promise,' my King, I must not keep it. We must turn back." "I've always thought there was one person I could trust. I thought you loved me and would keep your promise," said the King, mournfully. "You are so beautiful and I was going to marry you when I grew up. But if I'm wrong I'll go back with you. I thought we were going to have such a good time." Mam'selle glanced down to the King and saw a flood of unregal tears gathering in his eyes. Again her tender heart came to his rescue, and she said: "We'll go to the river, back of Notre Dame, my King, and we'll not return till you give the word. I'm going to trust you. If we are dis- covered, woe is me, for I believe the Cardinal would have me beheaded." "Do this for me, Sweet Mam'selle," pleaded i 4 THE LITTLE KING the King, taking her hand. "I shall protect you for I am the King and when I grow up I'll make you a duchess and I'll marry you, too." So, far past the Louvre, the Little King and Mam'selle wandered till they reached the wharf of the Old Red Ferry, beyond the Bridge of Our Lady back of the great dark Church of Notre Dame. Then the King, leading Mam- 'selle by the hand, crossed the quai and following the bend of the river, walked on the rivage very close to the "dark, murky, beautiful" water. At times the King had the great happiness to step right in the water, much to Mam'selle's horror, but he seemed to have mastered her and she gave him his way in everything. Once or twice the King actually brushed against the rough garbed gens de riviere, who smiled at the beautiful Mam'selle for she was as fair as a rosy dawn and looked with kindly glances on the handsome child. It was all so delightfully strange to the King that his joy was beyond expression save in signifi- cant squeezes of Mam'selle's hand, expressive glances up to her face and deep, long drawn breaths of sheer ecstasy. THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 15 After walking a long way down the river it- seemed a very long way to Mam'selle they came to a little girl sitting on a log near the water's edge. The King had passed several clusters of begrimed and ragged children who were far more attractive to him than were the little Count de Bourbon, the little Mam'selle la Duchesse de Conde or the other bejeweled children with whom he sometimes played and he longed to speak to them. But they frightened him and he was unable to screw his courage to the talking place until he found the little girl sitting alone, tenderly nursing a rag doll. Though poorly dressed, she was cleaner than the others and her childish beauty was far too assertive to be hidden by rags. The King stepped boldly up to her and stood gazing in unfeigned admiration. For one brief moment the girl's great brown eyes gave back his admiring glances with usury. Then the long lashes fell, and she gazed with ostentatious motherly love upon the rag doll resting on her lap. She remained seated, wholly unmindful and apparently unconscious of any other presence, and i6 THE LITTLE KING continued to smile lovingly into the doll's face. Presently she made it comfortable on the bend of her elbow, crossed her knees, swung her foot gently up and down, swayed her body from side to side and hummed a lullaby in tones so soft and sweet that the King thought he had never before heard so soothing a song. Added to her lullaby was always this refrain: "We thank dear St. Nicholas for all that we receive, But we are more blessed, far more blessed when we give." Meantime the Little King stood silently watch- ing her, though after her first glance she gave no sign that she knew he was there. So early does the flower of coquetry bloom in the femi- nine heart and so complete a mastery has it over the self- proud heart of THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 17 man that the King thought the little beauty's acting was real and supposed she had forgotten that he and Mam'selle stood before her. Presently the Little King coughed deferentially to remind her that he, Louis XIV, was awaiting her pleasure and was willing to be gracious. But she had no time for frivolities. Baby needed her attention; it was baby's sleepy time. This indifference to his august presence was a new and not altogether unattractive phase of life to the King. Never had he dreamed that any one could ignore him, nor did he know that it was possible for a subject of France to sit in the presence of France's King. But the new con- dition interested him so much that he gazed, admired, smiled broadly and after a time, said: "Why don't you rise, Mam'selle? Why do you remain seated?" No answer came save in the gentle swaying of the body and the crooning of the lullaby, so the King again asked: "Why do you remain seated?" "Sh h h h," she answered, holding up her hand to enjoin silence and whispering softly. "I i8 THE LITTLE KING am singing my baby to sleep. You know it spoils them to walk them to sleep." All Greek to the Little King, far worse than Greek, for he had a slight knowledge of the olden tongue, but what he knew about babies could have been written on his smallest finger nail. The King again was silent and stood for a minute or more enjoying the lullaby which was being sung to him quite as much as to the doll. He looked up to Sweet Mam'selle with a puzzled expression. She answered with a smile and the Little King, turning to the child with a manner as if to say "I'm enjoying this very much," remarked : "Do you know, you are the only person except the Queen Mother that has ever remained seated in my presence? The Count de Bourbon and Mam'selle la Duchess de Conde, even the Car- dinal and my brother, Monsieur, all remain standing." All Greek to the little girl, so she answered without deigning to give a glance to the Little King: "I don't know those folks," and again took up the broken lullaby. THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 19 The Little King's smile broadened to a hugh. Christmas, after all, was not so bad a day. He was determined to talk to the little girl and to make her talk to him, so presently he asked: "What is your name, Mam'selle ?" "Louise Jarbeau. What's yours?" she answered in accents softly spoken out of respect to baby's sleepiness, then immediately resumed her crooning. After a long, delicious pause, the King answered: "My name is Louis." Another long pause ensued. "Louis what?" she asked between notes. "Louis what?" repeated the King. Louise failing to answer he looked up to Sweet Mam- 'selle and asked: "What does she mean?" "I mean what is your other name besides Louis," said the girl, answering for Mam'selle in tones plainly showing that the King was inter- fering with her motherly duties. "Oh! Louis Fourteen. I am the King," he answered. Mam'selle gave his hand an admonitory squeeze. The King shrugged his shoulders and laughed softly as if to say, "Too late now. The cat's out." 20 THE LITTLE KING The King's statement evidently amused the lit- tle mother, for she looked up to Sweet Mam- 'selle with a smile which seemed to say, "To us older folks his childish jests are amusing," and again turned her eyes to the baby, now evidently almost asleep. She was at least two years younger than his Majesty. The King was about to speak, but the little mother held up her hand warningly, whispered "Sh h h h" to enjoin siknce for one mo- ment longer, swayed her body more gently, sung more softly, watched the baby's face more intently and after a moment of sweet pantomime, breathed a sigh of relief as baby reached the shores of slumberland. "Now she is asleep and we may .talk without waking her if we speak softly softly, you know, as the fairies talk." She laid the baby gently on the log, covered it tenderly with an old piece of sail cloth, gazed at the sleeping infant for a moment, sighed, crossed herself and said: "Thank Jesu at last!" She tiptoed to the other end of the log, sat down, beckoned Mam'selle and the King to a THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 21 place beside her and drew in her ragged little skirts so that they might sit very close. He at once accepted the invitation but Mam'selle remained standing. "You sit down, too, on the other side of me," said Louise, smiling up to Mam'selle, "and we'll talk. I'll tell you how St. Nicholas brought Babette Babette is my baby to me only this morning." "I prefer standing," said Mam'selle, "and should like very much to hear the story of Babette." "Please sit down, Sweet Mam'selle, on the other side of Louise," pleaded the Little King, grasping Mam'selle's hand and drawing her toward the log. So Mam'selle, for the first and last time in all her life, sat in the presence of the King of France, with Louise Jarbeau between her and august Majesty. At first the conversation seemed to halt, so Louise, feeling that the burden of hostess rested on her little shoulders, asked: "What is your father's name and what does he do?" 22 THE LITTLE KING "He is dead," answered the King, "but his name, too, was Louis." "But his his other name, what was it?" asked Louise. The King laughed and said: "I don't know." Louise's eyes opened in wonder, but she made no comment on the remarkable situation, fearing to offend, for perhaps it was not the little boy's fault that he did not know his father's name. To the Little King the fact that his father was dead was not a source, of grief. The late Louis XIII was simply a link in the kingship of France, a mere number in French history. A long pause followed during which Louise was trying to formulate suitable expressions of sympathy for the King's fatherless and nameless condition, but he sadly disturbed her mental proc- esses by saying: "My father was called Thirteen and I am Fourteen." A smile came to Louise's face despite her effort not to seem amused and she said: "There must have been a lot of children in your family to have to give them numbers instead THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 23 of names." Then the smile seemed to transfer itself to the King's face and hers bore a touch of sadness as she continued: "That's the way they do in prison. My Father Pierre's number is too large for me to know because I can't count more than one hundred, so my Mother Louise puts it down on a piece of paper when she sends me with a basket of bread to the Prison Sur le Pont." Louise sighed and with an air of wishing to get away from a disagreeable topic, went back to the subject of names: "It is so funny. Your father with a number for a name and you, too." Again she paused, looked dreamily out over the river, turned again to the King and continued softly, tenderly: "I'm sorry he is dead because he can't be good to you and buy things for you, and you can't be sorry and cry if if they take him to prison and your mother can't cry every night because he is in prison. But maybe she cries because he's dead, does she?" The thought was entirely new to the Little King, so he answered truthfully: 24 THE LITTLE KING "I don't know, but I heard Madame de Longue- ville say that the Queen left off rouge when the King died. But why should she cry?' Louise was dimly conscious of a feeling that of course his mother would cry, but the King's manner made her suspect that perhaps something was wrong with either her premise or her conclu- sion. The subject was too deep for Louise, so she backed away from it saying : "My mother's name is the same as mine. Her name is Louise too Mother Louise. I am Baby Louise. What what is your mother's name?" There was doubt in the question; it was danger- ous ground. "I don't know," stammered the King, who had inherited along with his crown his father's tendency to stammer when slightly confused. The science of nomenclature, so simple to Louise, was too deep for Louis. "What tithe Queen's name?" he asked, leaning forward and speaking across Louise to Mam- 'selle. "Her Majesty's name is Anne," answered Mam'selle. THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 25 Louise sat in open-eyed expectancy, hoping to hear a second name. "Yes, Anne," said the King, turning to Louise and taking evident delight in the fact that his mother had a name. "My mother's name is Anne." A short pause filled with faltering cer- tainty: "The Queen is my real mother, is she not, Sweet Mam'selle?" Mam'selle answered: "Yes." Louise smiled in default of words. This con- dition of affairs was startling. Here was a boy older than she who did not know his mother's name, and seemed not to be entirely clear about his own. He seemed, too, to be a little foggy concerning his mother's very existence and the family name appeared to be a series of numbers. Words were useless thought Louise; but silence was embarrassing, so she was driven to speech: "Does she have to work very hard?" "Yes," responded the King, delighted to be able to answer a question intelligibly. He felt that he and the little girl were once more on mutually understandable ground. But he was wrong, for respecting the definition of the word 26 THE LITTLE KING "work," they were further apart than ever. "She holds a council of state on Mondays and Thursdays, and every day with the Cardinal. Nearly every day, I believe, she Consults with M. Mole, of the Parliament. Then she receives ambassadors from other kings and addresses from the people, and and " "So does my mother," answered poor Louise from the midst of cloud. She did not intend that any one's mother should do more work than her own dear Mother Louise. The King glanced inquiringly toward Mam- 'selle and Louise continued: "And she sews, too, when she can get any to do." "Sews" was another word concerning which the King was sadly lacking in definition. He had prided himself on his knowledge of the French language, but his pride had taken a fall and his ignorance was embarrassing, so he remained silent. With true feminine tact, Louise had concealed her own shortage, but with feminine quickness soon discovered that the King was groping, so to pre- vent his humiliation she again took up the burden of the conversation. THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 27 "Yes, my mother Louise and my sister Jose- phine she is a big girl, she is sixteen work whenever they can get anything to do and they buy things for me. And they've got two names, too." Louise did not want to boast, but she did feel that the possession of four names by two persons was a fact justifying mention as conducive of respect in a boy whose father and mother had but one each. A long pause followed. Louis did not seem able to break it and Louise felt that something must be done to relieve the embarrassing silence, so she again took up the burden. "Oh, I love Mother Louise and my sister. They bought me a nice red ribbon last Christ- mas. I have it at home. Yes, Fourteen, a real red ribbon. I wear it only when I go to high mass. Oh, it's so beautiful and they're going to buy me a new dress when they get enough sous. They never expect to get enough to buy dresses for themselves. It takes nearly all they can get to pay the guard at the Prison Sur le Pont to let me take bread to Fnther Pierre. Every 28 THE LITTLE KING Sunday right after mass, Mother Louise sends me with bread and sometimes a little milk to Father Pierre. I don't know why, but she says she's afraid to send Josephine because Josephine is pretty and she's too big, so she sends me and sometimes I get to see Father Pierre and he kisses me and cries, and then and then well, I cry, too." She paused and tried very hard to smile, as if in apology for again introducing a painful topic. The King, who seemed to be having less diffi- culty with his definitions, fully grasped the situa- tion and listened in evident sympathy, while Sweet Mam'selle was struggling to keep back the tears. "Oh, but my doll Babettel" cried Louise, joy- fully. "Do you want me to tell you about her?" "Yes," answered the King and Sweet Mam'selle. "Well, I remember long ago 'way last Christ- mas I did want a doll so badly. But I was little then; I was only five years old so I didn't get one. Marie Lotier got one. St. Nicholas brought it to her, but she wouldn't let me play THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 29 with it. But she did let me look at her playing with it and and that was nice in her, wasn't it, now? Oh, I did so want a doll and I just thought about it all the time every minute since last Christmas and I made a novena for one and Mother Louise gave me a sou for an offer- ing to the Virgin and sure enough, my novena was answered, and when I woke up this morning, there right beside me was my beautiful doll, Babette. I had seen her, don't you know, in Mother Lotier's shop window she is Marie's mother and keeps the shop next door to us and I told Mother Louise that maybe St. Nicholas had left Babette there for me, and sure enough he had. I like Marie but they say she is a Huguenot." Louise hurriedly crossed herself and continued the story of Babette: "Oh, I do love Babette better than any one in the world except Mother Louise and Sister Josephine and Father Pierre. I wonder would the Virgin" (she casts down her eyes and crosses herself devoutly) "punish me if I loved Babette better than them." "No, no, Louise," said Sweet Mam'selle, speak- ing to keep back the tears. "But you must not 30 THE LITTLE KING love your doll better than your mother, father and sister." Louise wanted to hurry away from the thought. "Yes, good St. Nicholas brought her to me. He brought Marie Lotier a prettier doll but I know it is not so good as Babette." Another long pause ensued; Louise bent her head in a listening attitude, held up her hand for silence and said: "There! Babette is awake and I'll fetch her. I'm glad she didn't sleep long, for I do love her and I just want her all the time." She ran to the doll, took it up tenderly, kissed it passionately and resumed her seat between Mam'selle and the King. After she had made the baby comfortable on her lap and had feasted her eyes for a moment on its beauty, she turned to the King and asked: "What did St. Nicholas bring you this morn- ing?" "Why, no nothing. I I don't know him, so of course he wouldn't bring me anything. He couldn't get into the palace," answered the King. "Many friends brought beautiful presents," interrupted Sweet Mam'selle. "The Cardinal pre- THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 31 sented a beautiful sword with a jeweled hilt and scabbard. The Marquis de Villeroi presented a diamond star of the King's Orders and many others made their Christmas offerings. There was a beautiful brooch from her Majesty." Poor Louise was lost again. Stars and Orders, scabbards and brooches were Greek to her. She gazed with pity on the King and asked: "But didn't St. Nicholas bring you something something that made you cry just because you loved it so much?" Babette for the moment was forgotten and lay on Louise's lap in frightful danger of falling off. "No, he brought me nothing," answered the King, with a note of pain in his voice, telling plainly that he was beginning to realize his great misfortune. "Oh, you poor you poor " began Louise. But she stopped speaking suddenly, as if the words had been choked back by a great and torturing thought. She gazed for a moment at the King, then lowered her eyes with ineffable love toward the doll in her lap. It was the only treasure she had ever possessed, the only great joy she had 3J THE LITTLE KING ever known. A struggle was going on within her baby heart, but it was brief. In a few seconds she turned quickly toward the King, thrust the precious Babette in his hands and said: "You take her, Fourteen, you take her." She smothered her grief for a sec- ond or two, but could not hold out against it, so fell to her knees, buried er face in Sweet Mam'selle's lap and wept as if her little heart would break. Louise's wondrous unselfishness touched Sweet Mam'selle keenly, and the Little King's knowledge of definitions was full and clear. He saw it all and his heart responded if his voice did not. "No, Louise, we cannot take your doll," said Sweet Mam'selle. "No, no," agreed the King. "Yes,- yes," insisted Louise, between her sobs. "I can't bear to think that St. Nicholas forgot Fourteen." THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 33 "But you must take her back," said Sweet Mam'selle, lifting Louise to her feet and indicat- ing to the King to place the doll in her arms. The King quickly responded and Louise fell upon Babette in a passion of caresses that would have filled the heart of a returning prodigal with envy. After a brief moment of joyous thanksgiving for Babette's return, Louise looked up through her tears to Sweet Mam'selle and asked: "Why did St. Nicholas forget Fourteen? Was he a bad boy?" "No, no, Louise, he was good. And I am sure St. Nicholas will come to our house to-night, so you need not worry." Louise dried her eyes and divided her smiles as impartially as possible between Fourteen and Babette. Mam'selle thought it was high time that she and the King should hurry home, but she wanted the King to return Louise's great favor with one still greater, if possible, so she asked: "Is your father in prison, Louise?" "Yes, the Prison Sur le Pont." "Does your mother live near here?" 3 34 THE LITTLE KING "Yes, over there by Mother Lotier's shop," answered Louise, pointing to a near-by house. "Fetch her quickly," commanded Sweet Mam- 'selle. Then Louise ran off, clinging to Babette, to bring her mother. While she was away Mam'selle had a moment's talk with the Little King, who, knowing all about the definitions of the word "prison" and its kin- dred, fully comprehended the situation and was eager to act. "Do do you su suppose I can really let Louise's father out of prison?" asked the Little King. "With the help of the good Bishop of Notre Dame, whom we both know and who lives near by, I feel sure you can," answered Sweet Mam- 'selle. When Mother Louise came, she explained that Father Pierre had been arrested two years before for protecting his daughter from insult at the hands of a drunken nobleman and that he had been in. prison ever since. After hearing Mother Louise's story, they all hurried to the house of the good Bishop of THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS' 35 36 THE LITTLE KING Notre Dame, who wrote out an order for the King to sign, directing Father Pierre's release. With great difficulty the Little King signed his name "Louis R." The Bishop attested his Majesty's signature, and gave the order to Mother Louise saying: "Present this to the Governor of the Prison Sur le Pont and you will receive your husband.'* Greatly frightened at what she had done, Sweet Mam'selle hurried back to the palace. Immediately after leaving the Bishop's house, the Little King asked: "Do do you suppose they will let Father Pierre out of prison?" "Yes, my King, I am sure they will," answered Sweet Mam'selle. As they were climbing the narrow steps to the King's bedroom, he again asked: "Do do you suppose they will really let him out?" "Yes, yes, my King, I am sure they will," answered Sweet Mam'selle. When they were once more safe in the King's THE LITTLE KING'S CHRISTMAS 37 bedroom, Sweet Mam'selle gave a great sigh of relief and at once began to remove the King's "plainest, darkest" suit. He wanted his nap, for he was tired, though very happy happier than he had ever been before in all his life. While Mam'selle was arranging for his nap, the King, seeming to have but one thought, again asked : "Do do you suppose they will really let him out?" "Yes, my King, I am sure they will," answered Sweet Mam'selle. "It is your Majesty's first act as King and I hope you will remember it all your life." "I shall," answered the Little King, with more feeling than he had ever shown. "What was it in Louise's song about giving?" "She said 'But we are more blessed, far more blessed when we give,' " answered Mam'selle. "Yes," returned the Little King. "That was it, Sweet Mam'selle, and it is true, every word. Maybe that is what Christmas means?" "Yes, yes, my King." The King lay down on his low soft bed, asking 3 8 THE LITTLE KING Sweet Mam'selle to sit on a hassock beside him and hold his hand. A long silence ensued. The King was almost asleep, but from the depths of his drowsiness he spoke : "St. Nicholas didn't for forget me, did he, Sweet Mam'selle? He brought Christmas to to his Little King." Then the fair little face turned toward Mam'selle, whose head was resting beside him on the royal pillow. He kissed her cheek ever so softly and whispered: "Do do you suppose " But the King of France was sound asleep. "Yes, yes, my my " drowsily answered Sweet Mam'selle. But Sweet Mam'selle was with her King in the land of dreams, where the sough of Louise's lullaby came laden with the sweet refrain: "But we are more blessed, far more blessed when we give." CHAPTER II SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY IT would have been impossible to convince Sweet Mam'selle and the Little King that their rosaries had not turned away the hand of Death, and their faith was so beautiful that none but a very hardened person would have tried. Soon after Christmas the poor Little King was very ill. One can't expect a boy of eight to be a man when he is ill, but little Louis XIV came as near it as any child ever did. He gave one the impression of a grafted tree. In some wonderful manner the artificial bud of kingli- ness had been grafted on the native stem of hu- man nature, and the work was done so adroitly that the two seemed one. The result was a quaint and interesting child king. His Majesty, the king-child, is to be found in many a house- hold, but the child king belongs to a rare, 39 40 THE LITTLE KING small species of the human race, and the world has known but few specimens of his kind. So when the Little King was sick, the part of him which was king kept a stiff rein on the part of him which was child, and no one save his beautiful nurse, Sweet Mam'selle, was permitted to witness his luxurious and, at times, much needed lapses back to nature. When alone with her, he re- laxed and found sweet relief in gently flowing tears, wistful complaints and childish appeals for sympathy. His tears were stayed, oh, so lovingly by Sweet Mam'selle's soft hand; his com- plaints were heard, oh, so tenderly, and his ap- peals for sympathy were met by a flood of soothing consolation, fresh from her gentle heart. So they loved each other devotedly, and Sweet Mam'selle knew that she was first in the heart of the King of France. The Little King had good cause to love Sweet Mam'selle, for of all the women of the court, she alone had clung to him during his illness. After the nature of his malady was known, no one else had entered his room save his governor, the Marquis de Villeroi, Seguine, the Queen's SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 41 physician, and a mysterious old woman, who came morning and evening for the ostensible purpose of instructing Sweet Mam'selle in the art of nurs- ing. Although great caution was used to keep the King from knowing the nature of his illness, the marked absence of the Queen and the courtiers led him to suspect that it was contagious. The Marquis and Seguine remained in the room nearly all the time save at night, and though the Little King found their presence irksome, he was too polite to say so until the afternoon of the third day of his illness. Until then he did not complain. He had tried so hard to be a king, but at last tired human nature rebelled,, and he longed to be alone with Sweet Mam'selle. At times, the part of him which was king had a long reign, but when the part of him which was child took its turn, the Little King became intensely human, and would have his own. way, quietly if possible, stormily if necessary. So on the afternoon of the third day, while the Marquis de Villeroi and Seguine were talk- ing in low irritating whispers over by the win- ~42 THE LITTLE KING dow at the other end of the long room, the Little King turned to Sweet Mam'selle, who was sitting beside him on a hassock, and whispered: "Tell them I thank them for their presence, but that I shall not trouble them to remain." Sweet Mam'selle crossed the room, courtesied to the Marquis and delivered the King's mes- sage. The Marquis went to the King and said: "We are to remain here until your Majesty has recovered. Seguine and I do not fear, for we have had the smallpox that is I I mean your Majesty I mean it is our duty and our great pleasure to remain; besides, it is the com- mand of the Queen and the Cardinal." "I thank you," answered the Little King, cling- ing desperately to his dignity. "But you have the King's permission to go, and that is greater than the command of the Queen and the Car- dinal." "But, your Majesty " began the Marquis, protestingly "I am sure M. le Marquis will not wait for the King to dismiss him. That would be pain- SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 43 ful to to both," interrupted the Little King, glaring angrily. That was human nature backed by kingliness, so the Marquis and Seguine bowed and with- drew. Sweet Mam'selle then ran to the Little King and fell on her knees at his bedside, for she, too, was glad they were gone. Instantly the king flew away, and tears and sobs came softly, hu- manly, pathetically from the tired child's weary heart. "Oh, my King!" cried Sweet Mam'selle, "I would that I could be ill in your place." "Ha have you ev ever had had the small- pox?" sobbed the King. "No, my King." "Then then I dis dismiss you," he returned. "Else you will be ill. You you will take the contagion." "Why do you say I shall?" she asked. "Because I have the smallpox," he replied, making a manly effort to stay his tears. "No, no, my King, it cannot be." "You will not say I have it not," returned 44 THE LITTLE KING the King, trying his best to smile, "because you cannot tell a falsehood. You never did and you never will; will you, Sweet Mam'selle? I be- lieve every word you say, and I love you and trust you, and just as soon as I am crowned, I'm going to make you a duchess and marry you. Then you will be the greatest lady in the world my Queen. Don't you wish I could grow up big in a night, like the magic beanstalk?" This was the child, unalloyed by kingliness. "Yes, yes, my King," acquiesced Sweet Mam'- selle, soothingly. "But you must not think about yourself." She could not make even an effort to tell the King a lie. She knew the great truth that while one swallow may not make a summer, one lie spoken to a thoughtful child will make a liar. So Sweet Mam'selle hesitated and halted as she spoke, and the King knew the truth. "I know what my malady is," he answered, "because no one comes to see me save my tutor, the Marquis de Villeroi, Seguine and the old woman." "What old woman?" asked Sweet Mam'selle, speaking thoughtlessly. SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 45 "Don't you know? The one who comes every morning and evening with Seguine." "Oh, yes. I forgot her," returned Sweet Mam'selle. She had almost told the King of a mysterious secret she had discovered concern- ing the old woman. "They have had the malady," continued the King, "and have nothing to fear. They're all cowards but you; ready to die for me when there's no danger." It will be seen that there was a sprig of bit- terness latent in the kingly bud grafted on the childish stem. "No, no, my King. Every one loves you," protested Sweet Mam'selle. "We will pretend they do," he replied, sigh- ing, "but they don't love me as you do." A long pause followed, during which the King was very thoughtful. "The Marquis told me what ailed me when he said that he and Seguine were not afraid. If they were, you would be alone with me. You do love me and I must dismiss you." "But I will not be dismissed," she answered, firmly. 46 THE LITTLE KING "You will go if I command it," he returned, summoning his kingliness. "No," said Sweet Mam'selle, closing her lips and shaking her head. "You would not wilfully disobey your king's command?" he asked. "Yes," she responded, with all appearances of meaning just what she said. "Ah, that would be a grievous sin," said the King, earnestly. "I suppose so," she answered, her face show- ing clearly all the determination of which a beau- tiful and confident girl is capable. "But I do not intend to be driven from you till you are well. Then if my King wishes to be rid of me" "No, no, Sweet Mam'selle. When I am well, you shall return." "I will stay now," she again insisted. "I fear you took the malady Christmas Day when we stole away from the palace and went down on the rivage where the poor people live, and met Louise Jarbeau. I feel that I should con- fess to the Queen, and tell her that I took you. SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 47 But I fear she and the Cardinal would put me to death. Oh, my King, do not allow them to take me from you! If there is any love for me, even in one little corner of your heart, don't let them take me away. If you do, I'll tell the Queen about Christmas Day, and I know she will kill me." "But if you stay, you will take the contagion," insisted the Little King. u No, no, my King. God is good and He will protect me while I am doing His work in saving the life of His anointed. I'll say my rosary twice every day " " and I'll say my rosary, too," interrupted the Little King, joyful to have an excuse to keep his friend of friends near him. "Then God will protect you from all evil, and you may stay." So it was arranged between them, and they began at once to say their rosaries with an un- questioning faith that always carries a prayer straight to the heart of God. Every one about the palace wondered when and how the Little King had been exposed to 48 THE LITTLE KING the contagion, but the question remained unan- swered till one day the Bishop of Notre Dame told how the King had visited him at his house, with Sweet Mam'selle, to invoke his aid in re- leasing a prisoner whose wife and child they had met down on the rivage. Then Sweet Mam'selle was questioned, and the whole story came out. The Queen, a shallow, passionate woman, was furious with rage. The Cardinal, whose cold blood never caught fire, affected great anger, and advised that the girl be punished by anathema and death. In his righteous indignation, he said it was but meet that not only her body but her soul also should be killed. If there had been anything else about the poor girl that could die, he would have been glad to kill it, too, just to humor the Queen's angry whim. Late that night, while the King slept heavily under the influences of a narcotic, two gendarmes from the Bastile entered the room with the Mar- quis de Villeroi. Sweet Mam'selle, tired and almost worn out, was sitting on the hassock, asleep, her head resting on the edge of the SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 49 King's bed. When the guard in the King's ante- chamber opened the door, she sprang to her feet, startled and for the moment, alarmed. But when she saw the Marquis, her fear subsided, and she stood awaiting his orders. Without a word of explanation, the cruel Marquis turned to the gendarmes and motioned with his hand toward Sweet Mam'selle. Then turning to her, he said: "You will go with these men." "Where? Why? I don't understand," she asked, speaking softly not to waken the King. "You will soon learn," he replied, gruffly. Sweet Mam'selle was out of favor, therefore courtesy bestowed on her would be wasted. "Please don't speak so loud, M. le Marquis. You will waken the King," whispered Sweet Mam'selle, who was so stunned that she could think of nothing else to say. "Then cease your prattle and go at once," he responded. "Oh, please tell me why I am taken from the King," she pleaded. "What are they going to do with me? I beg you, M. le Marquis, do 50 THE LITTLE KING not send me off with these rough men. It is midnight. Oh, I fear, I fear! The King will die without me. There is no one that will care for him as I do." The Marquis's only reply was to nod to the men. The gendarmes started toward her, but she ran from them, and threw herself on the King's bed, crying out: "Awake, my King, awake ! They are taking me from you! They will kill me! Holy Vir- gin, they will kill me! I know they will!" But the King could not be roused, so they took Sweet Mam'selle roughly by the arms and led her from the palace, without allowing her time to adjust her gown, or to obtain warm clothing, though the hour was midnight and the season midwinter. She was taken to the Bastile, the frowning, terrible Bastile, whose name at that time, and for nearly a century and a half to come, was spoken by the people in whispers, for it was a synonym for torture and death. The next morning when the Little King awoke, SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 51 he found a strange woman by his side, and at once asked for Sweet Mam'selle. The Marquis hurriedly explained. "The Queen and the Cardinal commanded that she be taken away." "The King commands that she be brought back," retorted the Little King, angrily. "But that cannot be, your Majesty," returned the Marquis. "The Cardinal directs " "Who is king of France?" demanded the Lit- tle King, right royally. "The Cardinal? When I am crowned, there'll be no Cardinal, I pledge my word to that. I may not be able to make you obey me now, but soon I shall be king in real truth, and every one who has had a part in keeping Sweet Mam'selle from me shall suffer death. They think I am a child, but they shall one day know that I do not forget. The Car- dinal's head shall- be the first to fall, and yours, M. le Marquis, shall be the second if Sweet Mam'selle is not returned to me at once." Ah, he was all king now, and that phase of kingliness was beautiful. After all, despotic power has its satisfying points. The Marquis 52 THE LITTLE KING knew that the King meant every word he said, and would not forget, so he bowed low, and protested that he had taken no hand in Sweet Mam'selle's removal. "I shall go at once, your Majesty," he said, "and importune the Queen to bring her back." The Marquis found the Queen, but her Maj- esty feared to speak to him because of the con- tagion, so he gave the King's message, word for word, to a lady in waiting, who delivered it to her mistress. "Tell the King she is ill with the smallpox," said the Queen, who always sought refuge in a lie, even though the truth would answer her pur- pose better. The Marquis returned to the Little King and repeated the Queen's message. The king was dethroned instantly by the terrible news, and the child turned his face to the wall, weeping bit- terly, regardless of who should see. Louise Jar- beau had done well her work on Christmas Day, and it would take years of kingliness to drive her sweet lesson entirely out of the Little King's heart. Nothing so uplifts the human soul as SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 53 grief for another's pain, and nothing so sweet- ens life as joy for another's joy. After a time the Little King dried his tears there was no soft hand to do it for him and called the Marquis to his side. "I hope the Queen will see that she is well cared for," he said, between sobs. "Your Majesty may rest easy. She will be tenderly nursed," answered the Marquis, with a lie that should have choked him. The morning after Sweet Mam'selle was taken to the Bastile, she was led from her cell to an upper chamber to be tried; but the trial was a (mockery. She told the truth about Christmas 54 THE LITTLE KING Day on the rivage, and although there was no evidence to show that the King had taken the smallpox on that occasion, she was condemned to be beheaded. Sweet Mam'selle had a lover, Jean Breton, a rich young Parisian merchant, to whom she was affianced. Though tender, loving, and at times weak, as a woman should be, she was of the sort that gathers strength against a peril, so she did not break down when she heard the sentence of death, but as soon as she was alone, began to collect her thoughts to find, if possible, a way to save her life. Of course, her first thought was of her lover, so she told the guard that Jean would pay him ten pistoles if he would deliver a letter to him. Ten pistoles then were worth nearly one hundred dollars now. The guard was eager to earn the money, and Sweet Mam'selle wrote: " MY DEAR LOVER : I am in the Bastile, condemned to death. If the King knew it, he would save me. Try to see him, but come to me first. Please pay the bearer ten pistoles, Your devoted ' SWEET MAM'SELLE.' " SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 55 In those days every official, high or low, was eager to be bribed, so Jean's ready gold soon brought him to his sweetheart. At first they were unable to form a plan whereby Jean could see the King, but after a time Sweet Mam'selle's quick wit discovered one. "I know how it may be done," she cried, joy- fully. "How, my sweetheart?" asked Jean. "You know the old Jew, the alchemist, who lives above Baptiste Guiron's shop, in the Rue Sainte Croix? His name is Benonl." "Yes, I know him," answered Jean. "He says he is three thousand years old. He is an ignor- ant charlatan and a cheat a poor despised Jew; how can he help us?" "I'll tell you a great secret," whispered Sweet Mam'selle. "The old Jew is not a cheat; neither is he ignorant . He is a learned physician and is treating the King." "You do not mean it!" exclaimed Jean. "Yes. Seguine is the charlatan. He knows nothing of his art, so he brings the Jew to tell him how to treat the King. The Jew goes to THE LITTLE KING the King each morning and evening, disguised as an old woman. The first day he came I recog- nized him, and having a good opportunity, told him so. At first he pretended not to understand me, but when he found that I knew him, he laughed and said under his breath: 'This fool, Seguine, will kill the King if left to himself. I am here to save him, and if Mam'- selle loves her king, I am sure she will keep a-^rny secret. If the priests knew that I, a Jew, am treating the King, they would appeal to the Queen and the Cardinal, and I should lose my head. Seguine is an ignorant Jew, though he poses as a learned Spanish Christian. Real learn- ing is a capital offense in Paris.' Then I told him that his secret was safe, and he said: 'The Jew will never forget.' ' "What you tell me is almost beyond belief," SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 57 said Jean. "But tell me how the Jew can help me to see the King." "In this way, my lover," answered Sweet Mam'selle. "At the Jew's suggestion, Seguine ordered a pad to be made for the King to lie upon, with certain curative drugs mixed through the wool. The Jew will make it. If he has not yet taken it to the King, our opportunity will come. You offer to pay the Jew for the privilege of bearing it, disguised as an appren- tice. While you and the Jew are placing it under the King, you will find your opportunity. Seguine and the Marquis will be at the other end of the room, as far from the King as pos- sible. Then you whisper to the King and tell him all. He is a child, but he is stronger than one would believe, and will save me. I know they have not told him the truth, and am sure he does not know I am in prison." Jean hurried to the Jew, and learned that he intended taking the pad with him when he vis- ited the King that evening. Jean's gold pleaded so eloquently that within a few hours he and the Jew were in the King's 58 THE LITTLE KING chamber. The opportunity came as Sweet Mam'- selle had said it would, and Jean told the King of her impending fate. The Little King immediately called to the Marquis de Villeroi in tones showing plainly that the king and not the child was now enthroned. But Jean placed his finger on his lips to suggest silence. The quick Little King took the hint, and when the Marquis presented himself, said: "I thank you, M. le Marquis, there is nothing wanting." So the Marquis returned to the window. "Think it over carefully, your Majesty, be- fore you act," whispered Jean. "But I am king, and my commands must be obeyed," he responded. "Yes, your Majesty, but you are ill, and you may not be able to enforce your commands. I shall return in the morning, and you may then tell me what to do, so that we may act together. The Coadjutor and M. Mole are my friends." "I believe I have a plan that will serve our purpose," said the Little King. "But I'll take your advice to think it over till morning, when I'll tell you about it." SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 59 Then the old Jew and his apprentice left. At this time there lived in Paris a man named Jean Frangois Paul de Condi, who was the Co- adjutor Bishop of Paris. He was called the "Coadjutor," and was greatly loved by the peo- ple because he was brave and steadfast in their behalf. There was also a man, Mathiew Mole, who was President of the Parliament. He, too, was loved and trusted by the people. When Broussell was thrown into prison at the Car- dinal's command, the people rose instigated by the Coadjutor and Mole, demanded his re- lease at the palace gates, and had their wish. Had he not been released, it is probable the French Revolution would have occurred at that time. The people had suffered so much from the greed of the Cardinal and from the weak, revengeful tyranny of the Queen Regent that the city of Paris was but a stack of tow waiting for the match. The Coadjutor and Mole could at any moment apply the match. Of that fact the Queen and the Cardinal were aware, and as a result, they lived in a fever of fear. One word from the Coadjutor or Mole would arouse 60 THE LITTLE KING the populace, and even at that early time com- ing events cast a shadow before, which was easily recognized and terribly feared by her Majesty and her Italian minister. The Little King lay all night thinking how he could save Sweet Mam'selle, and when the apprentice came the next morning, waited for a good opportunity to unfold his plan of rescue. "Tell the Coadjutor and Mole all about Sweet Mam'selle," he whispered. "Tell them how kind she was to me, and how the Car- dinal has taken her away, and would put her to death. I fear I shall not be obeyed if I try to save her; therefore, I want the Coadjutor and Mole to say to the people that their Lit- tle King implores their help, and asks them to demand at the gate of the Palais Royal that Sweet Mam'selle be returned to him at once, safe and well. Whisper to the Coadjutor the words 'La Belle Rouge', and he will know the command comes from me. It is our secret word. Let the people be at the gates of the Palais Royal under my window at midnight. Then I'll do my part, and I am sure we SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 61 shall have Sweet Mam'selle back very quickly." So Jean sought the Coadjutor, and together they went to the house of Mole, where arrange- ments were made for carrying out the commands of the Little King. "It is a serious matter to arouse the people of Paris," said Mole. "A mob is always crazy, even though every man in it be sane. I hope we may be able to use this dangerous instru- ment of justice without doing more evil than good. If the mob once gets beyond our control, I fear the Cardinal, the Queen and some of their followers may suffer." "If the Queen and the Cardinal refuse to liberate the girl," said the Coadjutor, trying to suppress his anger; "if they refuse, well, every man makes his own fate in this world, and I'm not my Cardinal's keeper nor my Queen's. If they refuse, I shall go home, and the mob the mob may go crazy if it will." "Tut, tut, M. Coadjutor," protested Mole. 'Tfou are a priest and you must preach mercy.'* "That is true, M. Mole," answered the Co- adjutor, "but if God sees fit to harden the hearts 62 THE LITTLE KING of the Cardinal and the Queen, and uses the mob to punish them for their sins, even with death, is it my pkce to interfere with the Di- vine Will? I may be wrong in hoping that He will so use the mob, but the 'hoping' part of me is man, the 'praying' part of me is priest. Don't talk to me of mercy, M. Mole. The Cardinal never knew its faintest impulse. The starving, bleeding people of France have not touched his heart even in one little spot. Part of their blood will not satisfy him; he must have it all. You send word to your friends, and tell them to communicate to the people of Paris the wishes of our Little King; I shall do the same, and what will be, will be. I shall have five hundred men at Notre Dame an hour be- fore midnight, and shall expect as many from you. Perhaps there had better be no women in the mob, for there is more latent danger in one woman, when aroused, than in five score men." Mole laughed, and the Coadjutor departed. A few hours later the news of Sweet Mam'selle's impending fate and the King's appeal for help were known throughout all Paris. SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 63 When night fell, all was darkness in Paris, for at that time there was hardly a street light in the whole city. Street lights waited nearly a century for Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour. Two hours before midnight, dim figures might have been seen hurrying through the dark, nar- row streets, and an hour later, a thousand men were hovering in the shadows of Notre Dame. Presently men with small lighted furnaces moved in and out among the groups hidden in the shadowy alcoves of the great, frowning church. These men were lighting the torches of their friends the first torches of the French Revolu- tion, which were to smoulder for nearly a cen- tury and a half, and then to burst forth in a conflagration, to be extinguished only by a del- uge of blood. The streams of dark red light coming from the black wrinkles of old Notre Dame were ominous for present and future, and the shadows of the hideous gargoyles truly were shadows cast before. When the mob began to move toward the Palais Royal, the rumble of a thousand voices 64 THE LITTLE KING fell like the roll of distant thunder on sleeping Paris. The blood-red light of the resinous torches illumined the faces of the half starved men, giving them a touch of horror, as if a legion of gargoyles had taken on life and had come down from the waterspouts and turrets of Notre Dame, or as if Satan had loosed a myriad of demons in the Paris streets. As the mob approached the Palais Royal, the rumbling smote upon the ears of the Queen and the Cardinal like the knell of doom, and when one of the Swiss Guards brought word that all Paris was coming with torches, shouts and im- precations, the royal heart was filled with fear, and Cardinal Mazarin at once prepared for flight. But it was too late; the Palais Royal was surrounded. While the Queen and the Cardinal were cring- ing in fear, the Little King was rejoicing, for he did not fear the mob, and knew that their shouts would bring back Sweet Mam'selle. When the mob reached the Palais Royal, it halted before the gates beneath the King's win- dow, not far from the apartments of the SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 65 Queen. The Swiss Guards, a mere handful of men, were drawn up inside the gates, ready to give their lives in defense of the Queen, and, as they suposed, of the King. But the King knew he was in no danger. The purpose of the mob was made known by Jean Breton, who spoke through the bars of the gate to the Captain of the Guards. "We demand that Sweet Mam'selle be lib- erated and returned to the King at once," said he. "We are here by the King's command." "Vive le Roi !" shouted the mob, and when the noise had subsided, Jean Breton continued: "Carry our message to the Queen, and say that if the King's wishes are not complied with at once death to the Cardinal!" "Death to the Cardinal!" shouted the mob, and already the Cardinal was almost dead with fear. The demands of the mob were communicated to the Queen, the Cardinal and the King. When the Marquis de Villeroi told his Majesty, the Little King said: "Tell the Queen that the mob speaks truly. It is here by my command, and if Sweet Mam'- 5 66 THE LITTLE KING D tl selle is not returned to me, safe and well, within one hour, I shall rise from my bed, go out on the balcony, and ask the mob to beat down the gates and seize the Cardinal. If Sweet Mam'selle dies, it shall be a life for a life. < Tell the Captain of the KC/ii Swiss Guards to open ^j the gates at the end : &*>- -^ of one hour if he gets no further orders from me. If he refuses, his life shall pay for his disobedience. If the people of Paris do not save Sweet Mam'selle, I shall avenge her. I am king." And so he was. The Marquis hurried to the Queen, and when he told her that the King had summoned the mob, she was lost in wonder. "How could the King have communicated with the people?" she asked. "I do not know, your Majesty," answered the Marquis. SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 67 "Did you carry any message for him?" she demanded. "I am sure your Majesty knows I did not." She knew nothing of the visits of the Jew and his apprentice. The Queen summoned the Cardinal, who was only too glad to disperse the mob on any terms, so the Marquis de Villeroi was recalled, and the Queen said: "The girl must be returned to the King. I fear we were too hasty in removing her. She is faithful and loves him with a whole heart. Send for her at once." "Yes, send for her at once," said the Car- dinal. "Perhaps we should not have taken her away." For the moment a gleam of kindness seemed to light up the Cardinal's face, but it was prompted by policy, and his acquiescence was the result of fear. His heart was untouched. When the Marquis had gone, Mazarin turned toward the Queen saying: "The Coadjutor is behind this mob. It shall cost him his head." But it is pleasing to note that it did not. 68 THE LITTLE KING After dispatching a messenger to fetch Sweet Mam'selle, the Marquis returned to the King and told him of the Queen's order. Then the Lit- tle King said: "Say to the people that the Queen has granted their petition, but ask them to stay here until Sweet Mam'selle comes back to me." The king had had a long, painful reign of nearly two days, so when Sweet Mam'selle ran to his bedside, all his kingliness was drowned in a flood of unregal, childish, joyful tears. "Show yourself on the balcony at once," pleaded the Marquis, speak- ing to Sweet Mam'selle and drawing her to the window. "Yes," said the Little King; "and thank the people for me. Tell them to go home, and that when I am crowned, I shall give them better thanks." So Sweet Mam'selle, trying ,to dry her tears, stepped through the window to the SWEET MAM'SELLE'S ROSARY 69 balcony, and a shout went up to Heaven that was as different from the earlier rumblings of the mob as Heaven itself is different from the abode of darkness. The Marquis held up his hand for silence, and Sweet Mam'selle said, in a trembling voice: "The Little King asks me to say that when he is crowned he will give you better thanks, but now he thanks you in words and loves you, and asks you to go home." And they went home, for, to them, Sweet Mam'selle was greater than the Queen. When Sweet Mam'selle and the Marquis re- turned to the Little King, he said: "I thank you, M. le Marquis. You may retire.'* When the door closed upon him, Sweet Mam'- selle ran to the King, fell on her knees, covered her face with her hands, and wept, while the tears of a child stole softly down the cheeks of the Little King of France. It would have been impossible to convince Sweet Mam'selle and the Little King that their rosaries had not turned away the hand of Death and their faith was so -beautiful that none but a very hardened person would have tried. CHAPTER III TWO SMILES AND A DUEL ALTHOUGH the Little King's face was wonderfully beautiful, there was a trace of heaviness, a faint shadowy gloom, strangely mingled with its childishness save when he smiled. Then it lighted up as the demure somber violet takes radiance from the sun's kiss. The burdens of the future, the heavy burdens of absolute monarchy, seemed to be inuring him to their weight and molding him for their purposes. This strange shadow of coming events seemed almost uncanny on the face of an eight year old child and in later life doubtless helped to inspire that awe in the minds of men which won for him the name "Louis Le Grand." This heavy expression was at times almost re- pellant, but his rare smile made ample amends. It was the silent symphony of a sad heart glad- dened. In later life it neutralized his frown TO TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 71 and caused his people to forget that he was a hard, selfish old man. When he said "L'etat c'est moi" he smiled, and the world admitted his absurd claim. The Little King's smile may be said to have made its first state appearance when it saved the Queen Regent from a Paris mob, on the day of the famous duel between Maurice de Coligny and the Due de Guise. On the same day there was another smile by another child. From the other side of life came the King's little friend, Louise Jarbeau from squalor, from poverty, from the wretchedly poor of Paris. He had not seen her since the day they first met on the rivage back of Notre Dame that famous Christmas Day when he and Sweet Mam'selle stole away from the Palais Royal and made their marvelous journey "down to where the poor people live." It was on a day late in spring that the mob attacked the Queen, and Coligny and Guise fought their duel. Sweet Mam'selle and the King had frequently talked of Louise the little six year old beauty of the rivage and he had often sighed for her. 72 THE LITTLE KING One evening nearly a year before the events of this story, Madame de Montbezon gave a fete in her hotel in the Rue de Bethisy. During the evening two unsigned love letters, evidently written by a lady, were dropped by a gentleman of the party. They created a deal of scandal and for months the idle minds of the court were busy trying to learn what unfortunate lovesick lady had written them. The Due de Guise, head of the greatest house in France, gave it as his opinion that the handwriting resembled that of the beautiful Madame de Longueville. For this he was challenged by the lady's lover, Maurice de Coligny. Coligny was of the house of Chatillon and was a grandson of Admiral Coligny, who had been assassinated by the Due de Guise's grandfather on St. Bartholomew's Day, two generations back. Since that tragic day there had been feud between the families, and Coligny was glad of an excuse to challenge his hereditary enemy. Guise retracted his statement, admitted that it was made without good reason, and offered an apology with which the lady was entirely satis- TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 73 fied. Not so, Coligny; he declared that nothing but Guise's life would satisfy him, so the Due was forced to give him an opportunity to take it if he could. The result was one of the most famous duels ever fought in France and gave Louise the one opportunity of her life to smile en etat. She took advantage of the occasion and her smile was but it will come as it properly should, after the King's smile. A short time before these events a heavy bur- den called the "House Tax" had been levied on the people of Paris, which had caused the Queen Regent and Cardinal Mazarin to be hated so bitterly that their apearance on the streets had come to be the signal for a hostile demonstra- tion. An old woman's cry, a child's wail, a drunken man's ravings were sufficient to incite a mob among the idle, half starved people. As a result of these conditions the Queen Regent and the Cardinal feared to pass beyond the protection of the palace gates and guards. Several months of dreary imprisonment had caused them to long for a breath of fresh air; therefore late in the spring they determined to 74 THE LITTLE KING take the Little King and a part of the court to the Queen's country home at Rueil. To make the journey they would have to pass through the streets of Paris and they dreaded the ordeal. The Cardinal recommended going by night or under a strong guard, but the Queen's other ad- visers suggested that it would not be wise to allow the Parisians to know that Her Majesty feared them. The discontented people would be- come dangerous only when they learned their power. At the time of the intended journey quiet had reigned in Paris for several weeks, so after many consultations the Queen and the Cardinal deter- mined to start early one morning, accompanied only by the usual guard of outriders, and to go by way of the Porte de Vincennes, that being the gate nearest the Palais Royal. Early on the appointed morning the court started for Reuil, leaving the palace gates one carriage at a time to avoid attracting attention. In the first carriage were the Little King and the Queen Regent on the back seat. Facing them on the front seat were Madame de TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 75 Motteville and Sweet Mam'selle. The Queen did not travel in the golden coach of state, but in a modest uncovered carriage, accompanied by four outriders of the Swiss Guards, bearing halberds. Three or four hundred yards behind the royal carriage came the Cardinal, his secretary, the Queen's Almoner and the Marquis de Villeroi. All went well till they approached the Porte de Vincennes, when an old woman began to fol- low the royal carriage, shouting invectives against the Queen and the Cardinal because the collec- tors of the House Tax were robbing the people of their homes and were snatching the very food from the lips of the starving. Trouble might have been averted if the old woman had been allowed to relieve her mind and have her say, but the Queen grew angry and ordered one of the outriders to silence her. A blow from a halberd laid the old woman low, and instantly a swarm of half starved, half crazed demons in human form sprang up - as if from the dust of the street The Swiss Guards- men attacked the rioters but were pulled from their horses and beaten unmercifully. 76 THE LITTLE KING After the brief conflict with the Guardsmen the mob turned against the Queen and began to gather on all sides of the carriage. Just at the moment when it seemed that the Queen would be dragged to the street, the Little King rose, brave and unmoved, to look for the Cardinal. In turning he saw standing near the carriage wheel a little girl in whose great brown eyes and be- dimpled face he recognized an old friend. "Ah, there is Louise Jarbeau," he cried, clap- ping his hands and smiling in his quaint fashion, half kingly, half childish. The smile was oil upon the waters and the astonished mob paused to gaze in admiration at the Little King's beau- tiful face. "Oh, there's Fourteen!" cried Louise. Immediately the people surrounding the car- riage turned their attention to the ragged little girl who was exchanging smiles with the King of France. Without a moment's delay the Little King opened the carriage door, sprang to the ground, ran to Louise and embraced his long lost friend in full view of a surprised and appreciative audi- TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 77 f tf ence. He had acted solely on the impulse of the moment, but if he had been as wise as King Solomon and had L deliberately studied the situation he could not V have taken a better plan to stay the mob's wrath. i Louise and her parents had moved from the rivage several months before and were living in the neighborhood of the Porte de Vincennes, where the child was known and loved by every man and woman in the quarter. When the people saw the Little King embrace her, they smiled and soon began to laugh. When he took her by the hand in his courtly fashion and led her to the Queen, they began to wonder. But their wonder turned to awe when he lifted her to the high step and helped her into the royal carriage. After the Little King and Louise had climbed into the carriage, he stood for a moment hold- ing her hand. Then he looked down to the THE LITTLE KING people, smiled and placed his arm about her neck, when a glad shout of "Vive le Roi!" rent the air and the Queen knew she was safe. The Queen turned to look for the Cardinal's carriage, but it had disap- peared. His Excel- lence had fled from the mob and had started back to the Palais Royal to procure help for Her Majesty, as he afterwards explained. The Queen ordered the postilions to drive on, and as the crowd parted she gave a great sigh of relief. Hardly had the royal carriage begun to move when a woman ran to the steps, crying: "Where are you taking my child?" It was Mother Louise. The Little King rec- ognized her and said: "We shall bring her back, good madam. Do not fear." TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 79 Mother Louise did fear, however, for among other absurd stories relating to the Cardinal, she had heard that he ate little children. So she followed the carriage till Sweet Mam'selle said: "We'll take good care of Louise and bring her back well and happy this evening." Then Mother Louise, though not entirely without fear, was reassured. When well away from the mob the Queen turned to Madame de Motteville, saying: "Put the filthy little wretch out of the car- riage." Louise turned on the Queen, her great eyes luminous with surprise and indignation. No one had ever before called her "a filthy little wretch." She was used to affection, caresses and flattery. After looking the Queen over in a contemptuous manner quite new to Her Majesty, Louise said: "Are your Fourteen's mother? Is your name Anne?" "Diable!" cried the Queen. "Put her out this instant !" "I am not a devil child!" cried Louise, her eyes ablaze with anger. 8o THE LITTLE KING "If Louise goes out of the carriage, I go, too," said the Little King, his face almost ugly, lacking the smile. "What?" demanded the Queen. "Why do you keep her?" "Because she has just saved you from the mob, and and because I like her. It is the King's com- mand that she remain and that is sufficient reason." He looked every inch a king as he stood wait- ing for his remark to have its full effect. In a moment he continued: "She is Louise Jarbeau, the little girl I met on the rivage Christmas Day. She taught me the meaning of the word 'Christmas.' 'But we are more blessed when we give,' eh, Louise? You taught me the song, didn't you?" "Yes," began Louise, more than willing to sing the whole song. " 'We thank good St. Nicholas for all ' ' But the Queen interrupted her. "She gave you the smallpox, too." "I did not," protested Louise, indignantly, em- phatically. "I- had it long before I ever saw Fourteen, when I was a little girl. Mother Louise told me so." TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 811 The Queen being a Spaniard, was lacking in humor, but Sweet Mam'selle and Madame de Mottville could not help laughing at Louise's fighting spirit. Presently the Queen smiled despite her effort to remain angry and seemed to unbend toward her little antagonist. Louise was not to be mollified. Dropping her long black lashes and pouting exquisitely, she proceeded to annihilate her enemy. "People like you, with only one name, haven't any right to abuse a little girl who has two names, and her mother two names and her fa- ther two names, and even her sister two names. I know you. Your name's Anne and that's all the name you have, and I don't like you even if you are Fourteen's mother." The respect that Madame de Motteville and Sweet Mam'selle felt for the Queen did not help them to smother their laughter. The Little King, too, laughed, and the Queen, finding her- self vanquished, began to soften. She smiled graciously, and Louise, magnanimous in victory, dropped the long lashes for a moment, then raised her great brown eyes to Her Majesty. 6 82 THE LITTLE KING "I do like you and I am sorry I was a bad girl," she said by way of apology. "Perhaps I was a bad woman," answered the Queen. Louise's victory was complete, and peace was declared when Her Majesty lifted the child to her lap and kissed the rosy little face. Louise rubbed the kiss away and began to relieve her mind on many interesting topics, much to the amusement of the elder portion of her audience and greatly to the Little King's delight, for to him her babble was as the music of one of the rivers that flowed out of Paradise. Soon after the reconciliation between the Queen and Louise the carriage turned into the Rue Saint-Antoine and came up with the Cardinal who had waited a short distance below the Rue Royale. After a consultation it was determined to postpone the visit to Rueil till another day, so the Cardinal drove on towards the Palais Royal and the Queen followed. When their Majesties reached the Rue Royale a short street leading from the Rue Saint-An- toine to the Place Royale Madame de Motte- TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 83 ville suggested that they stop and pay a visit to Madame de Sable, whose hotel was in the Place Royale near by. The Place Royale was built on three sides of an oblong court, and the houses were occupied by some of the most distinguished persons of the French nobility. The plaza was a paved open space in the center of which there was a smooth well-kept lawn surrounding an equestrian statute of the late king, Louis XIII. The plaza was used frequently for small public entertainments and had been the scene of many a duel. As an argument in favor of stopping, Madame de Motteville said: "Madame de Sable is very entertaining and something is always happening in the Place Roy- ale. I heard that something of great importance would occur there to-day." The Queen hesitated, saying: "I fear we should return to the Palais Royal, but as you say, Madame de Sable always has an interesting budget of scandal, and and. What is apt to happen in the Place Royale to-day?" "I am not at all sure, but I believe the Due 84 THE LITTLE KING de Guise and M. de Coligny meet there to settle their quarrel. M. le Rochefoucauld's valet said " "Let us drive in, by all means!" cried the Queen. "There will be seconds, probably thirds and fourths. Dleu! It will be a battle rather than a duel! These men hate each other, and there will be no mercy on either side. We may see it from Madame de Sable's windows. We'll draw the curtains and no one will know that we are there." So the postilions were ordered to drive to the Place Royale. Madame de Sable welcomed the Queen heart- ily, and when she saw Louise, fell to her knees before her, exclaiming : "Where did Your Majesty find this little beauty? Beauty in rags it is, truly enough!" The story was soon told. Then Madame de Sable gave Louise a kiss, which Louise stealthily brushed away as she nestled toward her new-found friend. After the Queen's wraps had been removed she sat down near a window and graciously asked Madame de Motteville and Madame de Sable to TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 85 be seated. The King being present, the two ladies sat on hassocks, a number of which were always kept in every room likely to be visited by His Majesty. It is hard to understand the distinction made during the Old Regime between sitting on a chair and on a hassock in the King's presence unless the low seat gave the impression of humility. Ladies of exalted birth took chairs at the King's request, but those of lower degree were satisfied with the humble hassock. At any rate, Louise did not appreciate the dis- tinction, so she pushed a chair over to the Little King, climbed into it and indicated by her manner that she was ready to talk. Her babble was so sweet and interesting that she had always found every one eager to listen. To talk was to Louise a part of the process of "being good," and on this occasion she wished to be more than good she would be gracious. When she climbed into the chair the Queen cried out: "Oh, oh! Has the child no sense of propriety?" "You must not sit down," said Madame de Sable, gently taking Louise by the hand and draw- 66 THE LITTLE KING ing her from the chair. Every one in the room laughed, and Louise, too, laughed, not because she saw anything funny, but because she wanted to be agreeable. She was so delighted to see her beloved Fourteen again that she was on her best behavior, and Louise's best behavior, with its eager- ness to please, its smiles, its dimples and its little feminine affectations was well worth beholding. After a moment's silence, Louise said: "I'm tired. Why may I not sit down?" "Because the King is present," explained Madame de Sable, laughing softly. "The King?" queried Louise, groping in the haze of entire non-comprehension and looking about the room anxiously. Louise's ideas of a king were crude and ill-defined, but she had gathered from what she had heard that a king was a huge, frightful monster, desperately ugly and always to be feared. Former reference to Fourteen as "the King" she considered entirely in the light of a jest, for he was beautiful beyond all others she had ever seen and certainly was not huge nor to be feared. After looking about the room for a moment in search of the king, Louise's eyes fell upon a TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 87, large, grotesque figure of a Cingalese god, and she supposed she had found the monster so dreaded by the people. This distinction was made by the King's sub- jects: they loved the child Louis, but they hated the King, for to them the King was the Queen Regent and the Cardinal, to whom France owed all her trouble. When Louise saw the Cingalese god, she shud- dered, laughed nervously and said with evidence of trepidation: "Well, the King is mighty ugly." Every one save the Queen laughed. She was silent, for Louise had committed lese- majesty in its most flagrant form. After an em- barrassing silence the Queen said: "If the child does not know, she should be taught what is due to His Majesty." Here the Little King interrupted his mother impatiently : "She thinks that thing is the King," he said, laughing. "She doesn't know who the King is and I don't want her to know. I am Fourteen. Here, Louise, sit down again." 88 THE LITTLE KING The Little King drew her chair close beside his own, rose and took Louise by the hand. She hesitated, cast a frightened glance toward the Cingalese god and looked inquiringly at Madame de Sable, who in turn looked inquiringly at the Queen. No one spoke and Louise still hesitated. The Little King turned angrily to his mother, exclaiming: "Who is king of France?" The Queen rose hastily and said to Louise: "You may be seated. The King commands it." "No. Fourteen commands it," insisted the Little King, smiling, yet very much in earnest. "Yes, yes, Fourteen commands it," said the Queen, correcting herself by an effort. Then the Little King led Louise to her chair, bowed and said: "Permit me." When she was seated he sat down beside her, and presently the smile came to his face again, making every one happy. 'After a long, awkward silence, Louise turned her beaming face toward the King, exclaiming softly: "Fourteen!" TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 89 It was only one word, but it was spoken with a little sigh that expressed so much admiration and affection that all hearts, even the Queen's, warmed to the child for the sake of her deep, unconscious loyalty. The Little King took her hand and Louise continued: "I thought I was never going to see you again. Mother Louise prays for you every night and at every shrine, because you got Father Pierre out of the Prison Sur le Pont." Louise was climbing to the hearts of her audi- ence by leaps and bounds. Presently Madame de Sable drew her hassock over beside her and said coaxingly : "Won't you please tell me your name and then 'I'll take you upstairs and have your face washed." "I don't want my face washed," replied Louise emphatically, "but my name is Louise Louise Jarbeau." Then her face lighted up as she glanced triumphantly from Fourteen to the Queen, and continued: "I have two names. So has Mother Louise. When Father Pierre was in prison he had a number like " She nodded her head 90 THE LITTLE KING toward the King. Much to her astonishment every one laughed, so she, too, laughed. When all was quiet again the King tried to tell the story of his first meeting with Louise, but talking was not his strong point, so he turned to Sweet Mam'selle and asked her to finish the narrative. With the Queen's permission, Sweet Mam'selle told the story of the Christmas Day on the rivage, including Louise's song, her offer to give the Little King her beloved doll, and the release of Father Pierre from the Prison Sur le Pont. She was careful, however, to conceal her own part in Father Pierre's release, and made it appear that the act of mercy had been all the King's. She used the words "Sire" and "His Majesty" in speaking of the Little King, so that Louise might not understand, though it would have been impossible to convince her that Four- teen and the King were one and the same person. After Sweet Mam'selle's recital, Madame de Sable and Madame de Motteville ran to the Little King, knelt before him, kissed his hand, praised his goodness and prophesied great things for France when he should come to rule. Louise TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 91 had received a great deal of adulation in her brief life, but this went so far beyond her experience that she was a bit jealous, so she leaned back in her chair and was inclined to pout until the ladies laughingly knelt before her. Then she smiled and was happy once more. Hardly had the ladies risen when the clatter of horse's hoofs and the rumble of heavy wheels were heard in the Rue Royale. Louise and her affairs were forgotten at once, and the ladies hurried to the windows, drawing the curtains together and eagerly watching the courtyard. The room in which Madame de Sable had received her guests was on the first floor, and the windows opened on a narrow balcony from which it was but a low step to the pavement. Louise, whose curiosity was none the less because she herself was small, having been unable to secure an advantageous outlook at the windows occupied by the ladies, sought a window for her- self at the further end of the room, where she awaited developments. The audience that had assembled in the win- dows of the Place Royale had not long to wait. 92 THE LITTLE KING Presently four men in gorgeous costumes came from the coaches on the Rue Royale, entered the paved court and hastened toward the grass plot at the king's statue. One of these men, the Due de Guise, wore a costume of blue velvet, richly embroidered with gold lace and studded with precious stones. On reaching the grass plot he threw his cloak to the ground, then removing his short doublet or waistcoat, placed it beside his cloak and stood in his shirt-sleeves ready for the fray. The richly embroidered doublet caught Louise's eye and filled her soul with covetousness. With the Due de Guise was his second, the Mar- quis le Bridieu. Standing at a little distance were Coligny and his second, the Comte d'Es- trades, all in their shirt-sleeves, their rich ap- parel scattered about them on the grass. The Due de Guise was a large, strong man. Coligny was smaller and was recovering from an attack of fever. He appeared to be no match for Guise. He was, however, an accomplished swordsman, and having been successful in many duels, where the odds had seemed greatly against him, his vanity now led him to believe that he TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 93 could easily kill his apparently superior antag- onist. Unlike the seconds in latter day duels, whose duty was only to speak for their principals and to see fair play, those of the seventeenth century fought each other as bitterly as if the quarrel had been between themselves. At that time the duel was not a spectacular display in which a drop of blood gave satisfaction, but an affair of death. The men stood testing their swords, bending them with points on the earth and twanging them in the air, till Coligny's second gave the signal that he and his principal were ready. Still Guise did not lift his sword-point from the ground, which should have been the responding signal. Instead he spoke to his second, who went sword- less to d'Estrades and said that M. le Due again offered his apology. After consulting with his principal d'Estrades gave answer in one word: "No." Then the four men at once took their stand opposite each other, perhaps thirty feet apart, where they stood with sword-points resting on the ground. After a few seconds of heavy silence, 94 THE LITTLE KING de Bridieu lifted his sword in the air. The others did likewise and immediately started with measured tread, each man toward his foe. When within two yards of each other the antagonists paused, each intently watching the eyes of the man before him. Then like a flash the sword blades shot forth, met with a clash and a stream of sparks and the battle was on. The Little King and the ladies at Madame de Sable's window watched the duel with eager interest, and though the principals and the sec- TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 95 onds were their friends, seemed to enjoy it as much as if it had been a play. "Coligny has appointed the day of his death," whispered Madame de Sable to the Queen "Yes," answered Her Majesty. "But if he is so great a fool as to furnish the entertainment for us, it is his affair, not ours. He fights only to show the ladies how brave he is. If his family had always been as wise as it has been brave, it would now be the greatest house in France and the French people would all be Hugue- nots. The house of Chatillon has always failed when pitted against the house of Guise." When the first clash came Coligny fell back a few steps before Guise, but soon recovered himself and attacked the Due with great fury, driving him back almost to the steps of the king's monument. "Ah Dieu, 'Sieur Bleu! Fight, fight!" cried Louise, talking to herself. She had seen many a street fight, and had witnessed more than one duel in the Bois de Vincennes. "Bravo, Coligny!" whispered Madame de Motte- ville. "Your day has not yet come!" 96 THE LITTLE KING "Guise is but saving himself till he gets his wind and until Coligny loses his," remarked the Queen. "Don't you see that Guise is fighting easily? del! That was for the heart. Good thrust, Coligny. But save yourself! You're almost exhausted. Soon Guise will stick you as if you were a pig. How pale Coligny is, and breathing like a wind-broken horse already. As usual he is playing the fool. There, there! See how Guise beats him back at will." Suddenly the Queen rose and clasped her hands exclaiming: "Ah Dieu! See that child what is her name? Louise there, sitting on the steps of the statue like the mask of comedy laughing at death ! How did she get there ? She's almost under their feet. Peste! She is in their way. Yes, it is drizzling and she has thrown the Due's doublet over her shoulders! Ah, the little wretch! But she is droll." Louise, wishing a nearer view of the contest, had slipped out through the window to the balcony and had run across the pavement to find a seat on the steps of the statue. As the Queen had said, rain had begun to fall, and Louise, having TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 97 appropriated the coveted blue doublet, was sitting, greatly interested, in the midst of the fray. Meantime the principals and seconds were fighting desperately. Now and then the knell-like click- ing of the swords would cease for an instant while the duelists watched each other's eyes, wait- ing for an opening. Then came a faint click or two, followed by a thrilling rattle of steel and an occasional flash of sparks. In the midst of it all sat Louise, unmoved and very happy. Presently when Guise saw that Coligny was growing weak, he began in earnest, and the scene was terrible to behold. Doom was written on Coligny's pale face, but he kept on fighting desperately, though his thrusts were growing weaker each moment. Soon his attack ceased altogether, and his waning strength was given entirely to his guard in the vain hope of keeping Guise's glittering sword-point from his heart. He had changed places with the Due and had retreated backward step by step till he was almost at the foot of the statue where Louise was sitting. Neither he nor Guise had noticed her. Louise, fearing that she and the beautiful blue 7 98 THE LITTLE KING doublet might be trampled on, rose to seek a place of safety. In so doing she ran behind Coligny, who in taking a step backward stumbled against her. In trying to recover himself he slipped and fell to his knee. Under the laws of dueling at that time, Guise had the right to kill, and with that intention deliberately brought his sword-point over Coligny's heart. At the same instant he saw the droll figure of Louise wearing his blue doublet hurrying away behind Coligny. She turned and smiled. The Due smiled. Then he put his foot on Coligny's sword and slapped him lightly on the cheek with the flat of his own blade, saying: "I do not intend to kill you, but to treat you as you deserve for having addressed your- self to a prince of my birth without provocation." Guise stepped back, Coligny rose to his feet, snatched his sword from the ground and again attacked the Due. Guise had lost his anger in Louise's smile, so he seized Coligny's sword with his left hand and passed his own through his adversary's sword arm, placing him hors de combat. Then he separated the seconds, both of whom TWO SMILES AND A DUEL 99 were wounded, and the last great duel ever fought in the Place Royale ended happily because of a child's smile. When the Queen and the Little King left Madame de Sable's they took Louise Jarbeau with them to the Palais Royal. There she was introduced to a world as distasteful as it was new to her, so with the true instinct of Eve, she proceeded to make as much trouble as possible as quickly as possible. CHAPTER IV THE LITTLE KING LOST IN PARIS ALTHOUGH Louise Jarbeau was accus- tomed to quick transitions, and despite the fact that she had lived but six brief years, usually found nothing to surprise her in great and rapid changes, her sudden rise from the streets of Paris to the Palais Royal was more than she could or would endure without remonstrance. The court children seemed to her like fancifully dressed dolls and the courtiers lost their identity as men and women in the blinding colors of their costumes. As mere costumes, Louise knew them all by sight, having seen them time and again in the pawnbroker's show windows or in the second- hand clothing shops back of the Hotel de Ville and on the narrow streets off the Rue des Petits- Champs. Shortly after entering the Palais Royal Louise TOO LOST IN PARIS 101 announced her intention to go home, but the Little King wanted her to stay, so, Sweet Mam- 'sell promising to take her home early in the evening, she reluctantly consented to remain. They gave her a fine dinner from the King's table, but she did not like the strange food. Above all she did not take kindly to the knife and fork. She was afraid she would cut her- self with the knife and flatly refused to use the fork, saying: "I just know I'll be jagged all over my face if I try to eat with that sharp thing." So she threw them both away and pro- ceeded to eat her dinner in comparative comfort with the implements God had given her her fingers. After dinner her face and hands were washed, much to her disgust, and again she wanted to go home to Mother Louise, who, she declared, washed her face only mornings and evenings. During the afternoon she grew restless and began to complain to Sweet Mam'selle of the ladies and children who crowded about her, asking foolish questions and still worse, kissing her. Tears came to her eyes, for with all her strange precocity! 102 THE LITTLE KING born of self-dependence and knowledge of the world, Louise was still a baby. The Little King, seeing her distress, suggested that he and Louise be allowed to go down to the King's garden. This suited Louise, so she brushed away the tears and submitted graciously to the ordeal of being kissed before she went. The Queen consented, telling Sweet Mam'selle to rjjjjp-i / watch the two children {FHyh^K? from the King's win- ",-5- t. dow. So the Little King, te^* holding up Louise's hand as if they were ' 7 ^W 7 ;' . , , "V walking through a co- tillion, led her to the garden where they ram- bled about rather stiff- ly, Louise thought, among the flowers and bushes. When the Little King had taken Louise to every nook and corner of the small garden, he graciously asked her to be seated and sat down beside her on a bench in the shade of a lilac LOST IN PARIS 103 bush. After a short silence she spoke, with a sigh: "This is a nice place, but it isn't so nice as the street." "Of course not," agreed the Little King, with a far deeper sigh. "But if you had to stay up there all the time as I do," (he nodded toward the palace) "you would think this place very nice indeed." "Yes, oh, yes," sighed Louise, her heart full of pity for unfortunate Fourteen. He was not to be blamed because he had to live in a big, dark, cold house like a prison. So, after a long pause she continued apologetically: "And this is nice, too, but it is so lonesome, and and the stillness is is so loud. No horses, no carts, no boys, no girls, no dogs, no goats, no cats, no anything. Oh, my!" "Yes, it is lonesome, oh, so lonesome," returned the Little King with a sigh born of ennui. "I stay there in the palace all day and then all day and then all day, just looking out the windows, till I sometimes want to die." "You don't live there all the time, do you?" asked Loviise, pityingly. 104 THE LITTLE KING "Yes, all the time," he answered. "I am the King, you know." The last statement was a slip; he had not intended to tell her he was the King. Louise laughed and said: "Well, I'd hate to think you were. You're such a funny boy. You don't know what kings are like. You are not at all like a king. Maybe you didn't see that king at the other place at the first house we went into?" Louise paused, wondering why Fourteen kept up the absurd jest, for in her opinion he was as far from being a king as it was possible for any one to be. He was the nicest boy she had ever known, and was beautiful, too, so how could he be a king a horrid monster, a child- eating bogey. The grotesque Cingalese god she had seen at Madame de Sable's was entirely in accord with her conceptions and would always remain her idea of a king. The King realized that there was something wrong in Louise's notions of royalty, but he could not find the error, so he remained silent, and after a long pause, she continued: LOST IN PARIS 105 "Now, if there were a whole lot of boys like you, and if you didn't have on your mass clothes all the time, it wouldn't be so lonesome, don't you know ?" No, he did not know, so he answered hesitat- ingly: "I I don't believe I understand." There were many boys about the palace, in- cluding his brother, who was called "Monsieur"; still the King was lonesome. "Why, you see, if there were a lot of boys like you, and a few girls like me, and some dogs and maybe some goats, we could play hide and seek." "We could wha what?" stammered the Little King. "Why, we could play hide and seek, and catcher, and marbles if we had any marbles to- play with, and wolf, and anything we wanted to play." The Little King was silent. He did not know what Louise was talking about, though there was; a sweet, vague suggestiveness in what she said that thrilled him. Louise saw his trouble and tried to explain 106 THE LITTLE KING the processes of hide and seek. After several efforts she found she could not do so in words, but she could show him how the game was played, so she said: "Shut your eyes tight and put your hands over your face till I cry, 'Seek me.* Then you find me." The proposition seemed absurd to the Little King, but he obeyed, and when Louise called he started out to seek her. When, after a long search, he found her hidden in a large empty flower vase, he understood the game and knew why it was enjoyable. Louise laughed and clapped her hands, and Louis smiled, which was his kingly substitute for a laugh. They ran back to the bench under the lilac bush and the Little King told Louise to hide again. He found her the second time and became enthusiastic in a stiff, kingly fashion all his own. Again he returned to the bench, leading Louise by the hand, uplifted as if in a cotillion. When they had been seated a moment, he suggested: "You shut your eyes and I'll hide." Louise closed her eyes and waited for the LOST IN PARIS 107 King's signal. When it came she hastened to find him. She looked under every bush and behind every pedestal and vases in the garden, but he was not to be found. Soon she became frightened and called: "Fourteen! Please, please, where are you?" The Little King answered and Louise, turning in the direction of his voice, saw a small, nail- studded door in the wall of the palace. It was the door to the tunnel-like passage through which the Little King and Sweet Mam'selle had escaped to the street on two or three never to be for- gotten occasions. A laborer who had been working in the garden had left the door open when hur- rying away from the presence of the King. When Louise found the Little King she was delighted but her attention was soon drawn to other things. The dark passage fascinated her and curiosity prompted her to investigate it. Then Louis told her in whispers how once in a long, long while he and Sweet Mam'selle escaped through the tunnel, andj how they had done so the day they first met her on the rivage. The street door stood ajar, admitting a thin io8 THE LITTLE KING stream of light which seemed to accent the gloom. The tunnel, the darkness, the faint gleam of light, but above all the magic word "escape" bore down on Louise's soul with irresistible force, and she did tempt him. "Does that door open on to the street?" she asked. "Yes," answered the Little King, already alive to the possibilities of the situation and eager to be tempted. "Let us go to the street and run down to the Porte de Vincennes, and play with the boys and the dogs and the goats. Oh, Fourteen, you never saw anything so fine! You would be so happy you would never want to come back here!" The Little King believed her with all his heart, but he had misgivings. "It is a long way to the Porte de Vincennes," he suggested. Louise did not share his hesitancy, so she said: "Well, I'm going while I have the chance." She went and the Little King followed her with longing in his heart and doubt in his heels. When fairly in the street Louise began to run as if she were fleeing from justice. The Little LOST IN PARIS 109 King followed at full speed, and soon they turned a corner into a narrow street which was strange to him, though he had lived within a stone's throw of it all his life. Down the narrow street Louise ran and the King ran after her. Another corner was turned and still another. The streets were growing narrower and were filthier than any the King had ever seen. The houses were over-toppling and dingy and the few scat- tered shops were small and unattractive. When the King looked back and could not see the Palais Royal, his heart failed him, but pride spurred him onward, and he kept Louise's fleeing form in view. After a long run she stopped to wait for him, and he soon came up to her almost out of breath. When he was able to speak, he said : "Perhaps we had better return." "I'm not going back," she answered, with con- vincing emphasis. "But they will miss me," suggested the Little King. "And they will miss me, too," answered Louise, taking evident satisfaction in the thought. "But i io THE LITTLE KING I don't care. Why should you care? You are a boy; I am a girl. Shame to you, Fourteen!" There was not another word of protest from Fourteen, and when she resumed her flight he fled, too, keeping close by her side. Despite occasional spasms of fear, the King enjoyed his new freedom greatly. The dingy shops, the tumble- down houses, even the unkempt men, women and children were new and interesting. He wanted to see all and tried to look in twenty directions at once. The poverty of man in having only one pair of eyes suddenly astounded him. At any rate, a king should have all the eyes he needs. When he had traveled a long way and had seen many wonders the Little King began to realize that night was approaching, so he said to Louise : "It will soon be dark and I must go back to the Palais Royal." Louise agreed with him and when he said hesitatingly: "I I don't know the way," she answered confidently : "I do. I'll show you." They started back, as the King supposed, but LOST IN PARIS in after a time he began to doubt, and asked her if she knew where she was. She answered: "Yes, right over there are the pawnbrokers' shops. I've been there with Mother Louise many times." But her knowledge of the pawnbrokers' shops did not help her to find the way to the Palais Royal and soon she was compelled to admit that she was lost and began to cry. Louise's tears summoned the King's manliness, and he spoke up boldly: "Never mind, Louise. I'll ask some one to show us the way to the Palais Royal, and Sweet Mam'selle will take you home. Now, don't cry." Men were hurrying past them through the nar- row streets, and others were standing in the shop doors. The Little King tried to speak to several of them, but they looked so savage and were so forbidding in appearance that his courage failed him and he went on, leading Louise by her up- lifted hand, hoping to meet a man whose face bore some traces of humanity. But he found none. The men were not so hideous to Louise, so after several failures, she said encouragingly: 112 THE LITTLE KING "Now, speak to the next one. Here he comes.'* Thus spurred on, the Little King determined to speak to the next man he met. The next one looked like a ruffian, but Louise was in dire straights, so he made the attempt. It was only an attempt, for he got to stammering and could not finish. Turning to Louise, he said: "You you a ask him." "He wants to know the way to the the his home," said Louise, starting out with con- fidence but closing in failure. She could not remember the words "Palais Royal." "Home," growled the man, s>) roughly that he frightened even Louise. "Where is his home?" The Little King did not answer, so Louise, turning to him, asked: "Where is it, Fourteen?" LOST IN PARIS 113 "That is what I want to know," answered Four- teen, doing his best to stay the tears. "If you don't know where your home is, how do I know?" demanded the man. "Who are you, anyway?" Then turning to Louise: "And who are you?" "I I am Louise Jarbeau, and he he is Four- teen 'Sieur Fourteen. He hasn't any real name just a number, but that isn't his fault." The man looked at the small human specimens before him, laughed softly and mumbled: "He is more like a fourteenth." But the bad jest was lost. The Little King saw the man smile at his own humor, and supposing it meant kindliness, brought himself to say: I_ am _the K k king." The man laughed: "Oh h h! The K k king? Perhaps you are the Cardinal and the Queen, too. I wish you were so that I could wring their necks. They turned my little ones into the street and took our last mouthful of bread to pay the accursed House Tax. I wish you were the King. I'd have my revenge this 8 1 14 THE LITTLE KING night and all the world would hear of it." The man looked at Louise in her rags, then examined the King's finery. "Where did you steal that lace and that doublet and the shoe buckles? Where did you steal them?" he asked. "That is right. Steal every- thing you can from the greedy rich, who grow fat while we starve. But you had better move on or the Prefect's police will be along and they'll show you a way home you won't like." The mention of the Prefect's police frightened Louise, so without a moment's delay she took the man's advice to move on. The Little King, too, was frightened, having caught a vague hint of his danger from the fellow's threat. At the next corner Louise and the Little King turned into a street flanked by shops and houses, darker and more squalid than any they had yet seen. One direction seemed as dangerous as another. They were hopelessly lost. While they were standing in confusion, knowing not where to turn, a horse and cart came clattering down the street. The Little King supposed it would stop rather than run over him, for the street LOST IN PARIS 115 was so narrow there was not room for a person to stand with safety between the houses and the cart wheels. But Louise knew better than to wait for the carter to stop, and Fourteen soon dis- covered his mistake. Louise, knowing the usual proceeding in such cases, started to run and the King started after her, impelled to full speed by the law of self preservation which is very strong in kings. He had grave doubts of his ability to keep ahead of the cart, for it seemed to be drawn by the swift- est horse in France. But when it was almost upon him, Louise sought refuge in a doorway and succeeded in drawing him in after her just as the cart dashed by, grumbling, the King thought, because it had missed its prey. He was fright- ened and very angry, but said nothing. Being out of breath, though not in the least frightened, for the occurrence was not new to her, Louise stepped down from the doorway into a dark shop filled with old clothing, odds and ends of old furniture and junk of all sorts. The Little King was glad to follow her, for any place was better than the street. Another race with ii6 THE LITTLE KING a cart would surely frighten 'him to death. Louise and the King had been standing in the shop perhaps two minutes two minutes of deli- cious respite for Fourteen when a hideous old man emerged from the black regions in the rear. "What do you want?" he demanded gruffly. "Get out of my shop, you little thieves. You did not see me so you came in to steal." He took the Little King roughly by the shoulder and pushed him toward the door. When they came into the light the old man saw that the boy's apparel was rich and costly, so he held him back and said gruffly: "Ah, you have been stealing already. I know that doublet, those trunks and shoe buckles. They belong to the son of my friend, the Comte de Brissac. They were stolen this morning. His Excellency's servants were here looking for them. Off with them, you little thief!" The Little King showed fight, but in less than a minute he stood barefooted and almost naked. The man tossed the King's garments to the floor, giving him in exchange a rough, torn shirt and a pair of ragged trunks or breeches which came LOST IN PARIS 117 to the boy's ankles and were so large in the waistband that they reached almost twice around him. But he was glad to get anything to cover him, and with Louise's help, hurriedly got into them. When the task of re-clothing the King was finished, Louise, having recovered from her sur- prise, attacked the shopkeeper with a cat-like ii8 THE LITTLE KING viciousness as astonishing as it was effective and so entirely out of proportion to her size that for a moment Fourteen stood dumbfounded but only for a moment. She kicked the despoiler of her friend, bit his hand, snatched a broomstick from the floor, struck him a well directed blow on the head and retreated before he was fully aware that he had been whipped. The King had anticipated Louise in the matter of retreat and was speeding down the street, doing his best to hold up his trunks, when she emerged triumphant from the shop door and ran after him. The King being handicapped by his trunks, was soon overtaken by Louise, but neither of them had any thought of lessening their speed. The cobble stones bruised the Little King's feet and between fright and pain he was in deep distress. Presently he heard again that awful grumbling, rumbling clatter from which he had so recently and so narrowly escaped, and on looking back, his distress and fear were augmented to the last degree; for there came another deadly cart. Taking a firmer grip on his trunks, he fled before the new danger with a speed of which he LOST IN PARIS 119 had never before believed himself capable. But at last another doorway offered a chance for life and he and Louise were quick to take advantage of it. After the cart had passed, the Little King began to realize his danger. The threats against the King made by the man to whom he had spoken awakened him to his real peril. He had always longed to "go down where the poor peo- ple live." He was there now to his heart's infinite discontent. He suggested to Louise that they go to her mother's home, but Louise was hopelessly lost and had cast her burdens on the King. She who could fight so viciously could also collapse. He readily accepted the responsibility and tried to console his friend, who in small matters had always taken the lead. He felt sure that some- thing would be done by the Queen and the Cardi- nal, but what they would do or when they would do it, he did not know. Of course, there was great consternation in the Palais Royal when it was learned that the Little King was missing. The huge palace was searched 120 THE LITTLE KING from cellar to attic. On a former occasion the Little King had been found after many hours, asleep behind a chest in an old armor loft. The royal household expected to find him again and night was approaching before hope was abandoned. The Queen Regent, the Cardinal and the Marquis de Villeroi held a council, but fear seemed to have routed wisdom and no definite action was taken. They hesitated to spread the news through- out Paris that the Little King was missing, and very properly feared that an attempt to find him by public proclamation might result in his capture and detention by one of the many revolutionary bands. In such a case the people might hold him and might demand as ransom one or more of the many reforms for which they clamored. The removal of the oppressive House Tax or the abolition of the hated Taille might be the price demanded. Either reform would be costly to Mazarin and the Queen; both reforms might mean the fall of the Cardinal. After the council had discussed many ways of seeking the King, the Cardinal suggested that LOST IN PARIS 121 they send for Sweet Mam'selle. She was brought in, weeping bitterly, and submitted meekly to the reproaches of the Queen and Villeroi. When she was permitted to speak, she said: "If I may go out alone, I know I shall find the King." She was told to go, and immediately started out to seek her little master. The Marquis de Villeroi and a half score of others who could be trusted with the dangerous secret were sent out to search for the valuable needle lost in that terrible haystack, the streets of Paris. Sweet Mam'selle sought her lover, Jean Bre- ton, and together they sought the old Jewish physician. The Marquis de Villeroi ordered his coach and drove to the Bastile. Meantime Louise and the Little King were having troubles of their own. His first and most pressing trouble, after having found refuge from the cart, was with his trunks. He had no way to keep them on save by holding them up, and though it may seem to have been a minor affair in the midst of so many great troubles, it caused 122 THE LITTLE KING him anguish and fright almost equal to that inspired by the cart. Being a small matter, it fell within Louise's limits, so she found a string with which she tied the trunks more or less securely about Fourteen's waist. That trouble settled, the Little King began to grow brave in the face of real danger and assumed the arduous duty of Louise's protector as naturally as if he had been used to it all his life. Feeling confident in the security of his trunks, the Little King took weeping Louise by the hand, saying once more: "Don't cry, Louise. Come with me. I'll take care of you. I'm going to the Bastile." "No, no," protested Louise, to whom the name brought terror. "Not there, not there! They'll put us in!" "No, they won't," answered the King. "I know the Governor." Trusting entirely to Fourteen, Louise clung to his hand and they proceeded on their way to the Bastile, hopeful if not rejoicing. After wandering through many streets, very tired and very much frightened, Louise said: LOST IN PARIS 123 "Ah, Fourteen, there is the Bastile at last." The King looked in the direction Louise had indicated and was overjoyed to see the frowning walls of the fortress-prison at the end of the little street they were on. But when they reached it they found they were not at the entrance. A great forbidding wall sprang skyward in front of them and a deep, black moat was at their feet. They turned back and found another street with like result. It seemed as impossible to get into the Bastile as it was said to be difficult to get out. Nothing daunted, the Little King tried another street, and succeeded in reaching the front or tower entrance. He went boldly to the gendarme who was walking back and forth before the portcullis. Night had fallen but the gates were still open, though the portcullis was down and the drawbridge was up. "I want to see the Governor," said the Little King. The gendarme looked down smilingly to the little fellow in rags and said: "His Excellence will be delighted to see you. 124 THE LITTLE KING He wants you to take supper with him and has been expecting you this long time." The face of earth turned bright once more for the Little King and his heart jumped with joy, for now he knew that word had been sent from the Palais Royal and that his troubles were at an end. But when the gen- ^ darme turned away and proceeded on his beat, the Little King's heart sunk, for he began to suspect that the man was given to irony. When the gendarme came up to him again the Little King demanded : "Why don't you send word to His Excellence, telling him that I am here? Lift the portcullis at once and lead me to the Governor. I am the King." "Ah, die King?" exclaimed the gendarme, laugh- ing. "I am sorry to keep Your Majesty waiting, LOST IN PARIS 125 but I must tell you that the Governor is eating a boy about your size just now, and will be ready for you when he has finished." Louise saw no reason to doubt the man's state- ment, so her heart almost turned over. "You said he was expecting me. What do you mean, fellow?" demanded the Little King, in tones right bold and kingly. Louise clung to his hand and admired him more than ever before. Fourteen in rags was a hero. She would have compared him to one of the gods if she had ever heard of them. While the King was speaking a coach came dashing up the paved street leading to the Bas- tile. The Little King, remembering the terrible carts, climbed to the top of a pile of broken stone with all the haste he could make. Hardly were he and Louise perched in safety when a great coach drawn by four splendid horses drove up and stopped before the portcullis. One of the men in the coach spoke to the gendarme. Immediately the portcullis began to rise and the drawbridge to come down. When all was ready the horses started forward. 126 THE LITTLE KING and as the light from the great flambeau above the gate fell on the faces of the men in the coach, the Little King recognized his Governor, the Marquis de Villeroi, and his uncle, the Due d'Orleans. In his haste he almost fell from the pile of stone. Then he hurried after the coach, climbed to the steps and cried out: "M. le Marquis! Wait, wait!" But the Marquis thrust the child away and hastened into the Bastile to advise with the Gov- ernor as to the best way of finding the lost King. The drawbridge slowly went up and the port- cullis came down with a bang. So did the Lit- tle King's heart. "Now, be off !" ordered the gendarme, not unkindly. "The Black Patrol will be here on their rounds in a minute or two, and if they find you loitering about the gate, into the moat you'll go." Retreat in the face of superior force was Louise's strong point. She wanted to go at once. "I've heard of the Black Patrol," she whis- pered to the King. "They kill every one who gets in their way." LOST IN PARIS 127 Her fears were infectious and her statement was alarming. Still the Little King stood his ground, eager, as he supposed, to meet the Black Patrol single handed and alone. But when he saw a score of black figures slowly oozing out of the darkness into the light of the flambeau, caution, self-preservation and Louise's safety all prompted him to immediate flight. So away he ran, clutching his trunks with one hand while Louise clung desperately to the other. Surely it was a difficult matter to get into the Bastile, though doubtless many others had found it all too easy. Again the Little King and Louise were wander- ers. The shops were closing. One by one the lights in the windows were going out, and in a short time the streets were deserted. Now and then a dim, phantom-like form sprang from the darkness and passed on leaving the children almost paralized -by fear. The forms did not seem to be men and women. Doubtless they were frightful, child-destroying demons, and the King and Louise wondered at their marvelous escapes from them. Louise suggested that the dark forms 128 THE LITTLE KING might be black ghosts, and the King was ready to admit that perhaps she was right. At times the trembling children stood clinging to each other. Then they would wander on again, hardly conscious of what they were doing. Thus several hours passed, and little by little the wanderers traveled a long unknown way, the King always holding up Louise's hand like the pompous little gallant that he was. In their aimless wander- ing they came to a woman sitting on a doorstep. She held a baby in her lap, while a little girl slept at her feet. When the King saw her he took courage, and with an instinct born of man- liness, seemed to know that he would find sym- pathy here, because he was about to seek it of a woman. "We are lost," he said, bowing in his courtly fashion before the woman. "Won't Madame help us and give us something to eat? We are very tired and hungry. I am the King." The woman did not laugh. The day had been one of woe to her and she could not laugh, answered simply: "The King asks help from his poorest subject. LOST IN PARIS 129 He sent his tax gatherers here to-day to collect the House Tax, and they took all I had; my poor bed, my chair; even my small sack of black flour. I have nothing to eat, and I fear my little ones will starve that the Queen and the Cardinal may live in luxury." The Little King paused to gather his thoughts, and after a deal of stammering replied: "But I am the King. You are mistaken. I did not send the tax collectors. I am lost. Please, Madame, help me to find the Palais Royal." The woman, supposing that the child's mind had been touched by madness born, possibly, of her own familiar affliction, hunger, humored his whim and answered: "I can't take you to the Palais Royal, but you and the little girl may come into my house and may sleep on the bare floor. I have nothing else to offer you except my pity." The Little King was very tired, and knew that Louise could not keep her eyes open much longer. Anything was better than wandering in the streets, where a deadly cart was apt to spring from the darkness any moment. So the 9 i 3 o THE LITTLE KING V woman's offer was accepted, and soon the royal eyes were sealed. All night long the King lay beside Louise, the hard boards for a bed and his bended arm for a pillow, but His Majesty was asleep dreaming of deadly carts, and vowing death to all carters the day after his coronation. The next morning the King awakened just as Louise rose beside him and announced that she was hungry. It took him some time to realize where he was. He was dazed. But while he was rubbing his eyes a painful sensation strangely in accord with Louise's statement helped him toward wakefulness. He was terribly hungry. The woman had gone, but the little girl and the baby slept in the corner of the room. When entirely awake the Little King went to the door. The sun was shining brightly. Oh, how much better was the day than the awful night ! It was still early, though a few of the shops were open, and now and then a hated cart dashed past the door. Presently the woman returned. She closed the door, looked carefully about her to see that no LOST IN PARIS 131 one was watching, and drew a small loaf of black bread from the folds of her gown. She awakened the little girl and the baby, broke the loaf into four pieces piteously small they were and gave one to each of her little ones. She hesitated, then as if fleeing from temptation, thrust one of the remaining pieces of bread into Louise's hand and the other she gave to the Little King. Louise fell upon her bread ravenously and would have devoured it all very quickly had she not glanced up to the eager face of the half-starved woman. Instantly Louise broke her bread in two pieces and offered one to the woman, saying: "There's too much for me. You eat it." Tears started to the woman's eyes and she caught Louise to her breast. .. The Little King, learning his second lesson of love from Louise, said in his courtly fashion: "Madame, pray have a part of my bread, too. I'm not very hungry." God's gentle finger had touched that desert place, a king's heart, and it had blossomed. The woman clasped him to her heart, too, and looked almost happy as she ate her own bread 132 THE LITTLE KING that had been cast upon the waters, instantly to return. While they were eating their meager breakfast, two men entered the house and arrested the woman for having stolen the loaf from a baker. The penalty for her crime was death or worse. The scene that followed was too distressing to dwell on, though similar scenes for like offenses were enacted every day in Paris, while Mazarin grew rich and the Queen Regent squandered her millions. The woman was led away, carrying her baby, while the little girl, the King and Louise fol- lowed in a mournful procession. Hardly had they taken twenty steps from the house when the Little King saw an old Jew, two young men and a beautiful young woman crossing the street a short distance in advance. At first he could not trust his eyes, but yes, he was right! He pinched himself and he was sure he was right, so he cried out joyfully: "Sweet Mam'selle! Sweet Mam'selle!" The next moment the beautiful young woman was on her knees in the mud of the street, with the Little King's arms clasped about her neck. LOST IN PARIS 133 Explanations followed quickly, and the men. who had arrested the woman fled in terror from the King's presence. The erstwhile mournful pro- cession faced about and following the lead of Jean Breton, hurried to the opposite end of the short street, turned a corner, and there to the King's surprise stood the Palais Royal, within three minutes' walk of the house in which he had spent the night, elbow to elbow with starva- tion. There was great rejoicing when tht Little King returned. His first care was for the poor woman who had divided her stolen loaf with him. Her days of want were over. Truly her bread had been cast upon the waters and had returned. After the Little King's story was told, he turned to Mazarin, lifted his hand in a threaten- ing, kingly, though childish manner, and said: "M. le Cardinal, it is the King's command that the House Tax be abolished in Paris." And the Little King's command was obeyed. LA SAINTE CROIX CHAPTER V A JEW THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD AT the time of the Little King's tenth birthday, there was in the city of Paris, a short, narrow street just off the Rue de Bethisy called the Rue Sainte Croix, which ceased to exist so long ago that its very name has been forgotten save in musty tomes and ancient legendary. With the true spirit of para- doxy which at the time seemed to be the familiar spirit of Paris, the score or more of houses com- posing the quaint little street bearing this holy Christian name were, with two or three excep- tions, occupied by Jews. One of these exceptions was a high two-story wooden building whose over- hanging roof and heavy beams leaned so far into the street that they seemed to threaten with de- struction any stranger invading the Sabbath-like stillness of Rue Sainte Croix. This ancient structure was occupied by a Chris- 137 J3 S THE LITTLE KING tian, Baptiste Guiron, an alchemist, who kept what we should now call an apothecary shop on the first floor. As if to save the house from being an entire exception to the Hebraic rule, the second floor was occupied by an old Jew whose name was Benoni; not Benoni Smith, nor Jones, nor Brown, but simply Benoni, for the Jews at that time had no family names, as all the world knows. One cold Sunday morning in the month of December, nearly ten years before the Little King Louis XIV was born, a Jew was standing near the chain fence which surrounded a space perhaps one hundred feet square in the plaza fronting the cathedral of the city of Toulouse. In the center of the square were two iron stakes and at the stakes stood chained a man and a woman, husband and wife. They were heretics. A priest held a cross before them, fagots were piled at their feet, and two executioners stood ready to apply the torch. Near the Jew stood a boy eight or nine years old, watching with streaming -eyes the frightful proceedings. A VERY OLD JEW 139 The woman was brave till she turned her face toward the child. Then she begged for mercy, protested her innocence and offered to make any recantation, reparation or confession Holy Church might ask. But her entreaties were unheeded. The executioners applied the torch and stepped back with the priest to the chain fence, leaving the man and the woman to the mercy of the fire. When the fagots were well aflame, the woman turned her face toward the boy and held out her hands to him as far as her chains would permit. After a moment's hesitancy the boy crawled under the chain fence and ran to her, where he stood during the rest of the awful scene, warming his hands at the flames which were consuming the only friends he had on earth, his father and his mother. Soon the crowd of spectators began to depart, for the auto da fe was an old story in Tou- louse, and within an hour only the boy, the Jew and the executioners were left to witness the end of the tragedy. When the executioners prepared to go they ordered the boy to leave the enclosure 140 THE LITTLE KING and enforced their com- mand by a blow from the half-charred pole with which they had been stirrings the embers. The boy went back to where he had been standing near the Jew, turned his face toward his dead father and mother, leaned against the chain and wept bit- terly. After watching him for a little time, the Jew went to his side and asked gently: "Where are you going, my son?" "I I don't know," sobbed the boy. "Have you no home, no friends?" "No." "Will you go home with me?" asked the Jew pleadingly. One might have supposed he was seeking a favor. "Yes," answered the sobbing boy, holding up his hand to be clasped. So Baptiste Guiron went A VERY OLD JEW 141 home with Benoni the Jew and grew to manhood under his rooftree. How Baptiste became a learned alchemist under the teaching of Benoni, how Benoni, having on a certain occasion cured Louis XIII of an illness while that monarch was on a visit to Toulouse, obtained from the king permission to live in Paris with his wife, his baby daughter and young Bap- tiste, how, being rich, he bought the house of the disbanded cloister, La Sainte Croix, from which the little street took its name, how Bap- tiste opened an apothecary shop in the overhanging building, back of which stood the cloister house, how he prospered, how the old Jew kept his wife and his beautiful daughter snugly hidden in his real home, the cloister house of La Sainte Croix, and how, being a learned physician, he plied his healing arts, cured the rich for pay and the poor gratis, are all matters that happened long before the King's tenth birthday and therefore are no part of this story, the principal events of which occurred on that day. But the Jew's daughter Miriam, who had "hap- pened" some seven or eight years before the Lit- 142 THE LITTLE KING the King was born, being wonderfully beautiful, as Baptiste would have testified, naturally, becomes an important part of the story, as a beautiful girl is apt to do whenever she is connected with any story. Of course Baptiste's relations to the Jew were carefully hidden from the world, for while a Jew himself might prosper in trade and might be tolerated, at least for a time, a Christian who associated with a Jew was sure to be despised, frowned upon and spurned as an unclean thing hiding under the Master's cloak. A VERY OLD JEW 143 It must not be understood that Baptiste was ungrateful to the man that had sheltered him. On the contrary, he loved him, and as for his daughter but all that concerns her will come in its turn. Baptiste stood aloof from the Jew only so far as the outer world could see, but whatever he did was done under Benoni's advice. Among Baptiste's Christian friends was Jean Breton, Sweet Mam'selle's lover. Jean and Sweet Mam'selle knew that the Jew lived over Baptiste's shop, but they knew nothing of the strange re- lationship. They, in common with all other Chris- tians, hated the Jews, but after Benoni had helped Jean to see the Little King and had thereby enabled him to rescue Sweet Mam'selle from the Bastile, and later had aided them in finding the Little King on the eventful night when "Four- teen" and Louise Jarbeau were lost in the streets of Paris, they began to respect the old man, then to love him, and soon found themselves forgetting that he was a Jew. They knew also that it was Benoni's skill which had saved the Little King when His Maj- esty was ill with the smallpox, though the Queen I 4 4 THE LITTLE KING and the Court gave the credit to Seguine, the court physician, who received all the reward. At that time superstition and science went hand in hand, but superstition's hand was much the larger. Alchemy was the link connecting Black Magic with medicine, the curative arts and the science we now call chemistry. Astrology was the link between magic and astronomy, while the power of numbers, mystically arranged to foretell the future, chained even prosaic mathematics to the realm of the supernatural. Even the men who were learned in natural science were unable to divest themselves of the barnacles of superstition, and were prone to en- courage by many artifices the half-frightened awe with which the people looked upon them. One of the commonest modes of inspiring awe was a pretense of great age. It was an innocent imposture, but it was an imposture nevertheless. Benoni was three thousand years old, if one may accept his word for that startling fact. Why he pretended to so great an age is hard to under- stand unless it inspired a sort of awe-tinged A VERY OLD JEW 145 respect for and confidence in his power to heal suggestive perhaps of Satanic origin which brought him patients who did his general coffers fill. Where one of these learned men lived there could always be found among the people from king to peasant a whispering undercurrent of gossip hinting that Satan had his finger in the pie somewhere. No matter how great a benefactor the supposed friend of Satan may have been, the people, if stirred by religious fanaticism, were eager to fall upon him and to work his ruin. If the devil did all the good with which he was charged, he was a better fellow than many persons can be brought to believe, and if he received all the punishment honestly intended for him he had his due long ago. Benoni, though ostensibly living in the rooms over Baptiste Guiron's shop, in fact dwelt with his wife and daughter in the old cloister house of La Sainte Croix, which stood within a walled enclosure just back of the shop. Surrounding the small stone dwelling was a diminutive garden of trees and flowers, so beautifully arranged and so 10 i 4 6 THE LITTLE KING well cultivated by the Jewish family that to step from the bleak little street into Baptiste's dingy shop, and thence from the back door of the shop through the well concealed gate in the high cloister wall was like passing from a desert into fairy-land. When one entered the house and beheld the rich oriental tapestries, the luxurious couches, the rare rugs, the many colored hanging lamps of sparkling crystal, and breathed the per- fumes of myrrh and the attar of roses, one might well believe that an esthetic genie or an artistic Satan had helped in its creation. Com- pared to it, the grandeur of the Palais Royal was comfortless and commonplace. But all that was beautiful in the Jew's house paled beside the loveliness of his daughter Miriam. She was fair of skin (her mother was a beautiful Circassian whom Benoni had purchased in Bag- dad), her hair was golden red, the color Titian loved, and her face showed none of the distinct- ively Jewish features. Her father had paid one thousand sequins or about eighteen hundred dol- lars, for her mother; he could have sold the A VERY OLD JEW 147 daughter in the same market for ten times that sum. But all the gold of the earth could not have bought her. She was dearer to Benoni than the blood of his heart. Until near the time of the Little King's tenth birthday, no one save Baptiste Guiron had been permitted to behold the enchanting scene within the walls of La Sainte Croix, and no one so much as suspected its existence. Even the Jews living in the neighborhood supposed the cloister house was an uninhabited ruin, for the walls sur- rounding it were so high that it could not be seen even from the roofs of nearby houses. Neither did any one suspect that the Jew had a beautiful wife and a still more beautiful daughter, for when on rare occasions they ventured abroad, they left and returned through Baptiste's shop, and when on the street dressed in the fashion of the time and wore masks as was the wont and privilege of all women. Benoni, knowing only too well the terrible spirit of the times, fully realized that the only safety for him and his little brood lay in concealment, so for many years they had lived happily hidden i 4 8 THE LITTLE KING from all the world in the heart of La Sainte Croix. Save for the fact that this story could not have been told, it would have been well had Benoni never relaxed his vigilance. But though learned in the ways of the evil heart, he under- estimated the danger to all things good which lurks in superstition, ignorance and greed, and like all who trust to the mercies of the world, he paid the penalty. And this is how it all came about. When the Little King was lost with Louise Jarbeau on that terrible night in the streets of Paris, and was found by the help of the Jew and Baptiste, Jean and Sweet Mam'selle each received rich rewards which they, being honest folk, felt should be divided with those who had helped them. The Jew, wishing to avoid pub- licity, refused the proffered portion, and Bap- tiste insisted that he himself was entitled to no reward. So Baptiste and the Jew found a warm place in the hearts of Jean and his sweetheart, resulting in many visits to Baptiste's shop and the Jew's rooms above. The four grew to be A VERY OLD JEW 149 great friends, so one evening shortly before the King's tenth birthday, Benoni, longing for com- panionship and feeling that his new-found friends were to be trusted, invited them to cross the threshold of La Sainte Croix, and presented them to his sacred world; his wife, his daughter and his home. Jean and Sweet Mam'selle were enchanted with the beautiful scene and the still more beautiful daughter, and when cautioned by the Jew, prom- ised in all sincerity not to betray his secret As the Little King's birthday approached, the whole court, including the Queen, the Cardinal, and all the courtiers strove to invent some new entertainment that would interest the little mon- arch, who was already growing blase and hard to amuse. The man or woman that suggested the entertainment in which his little Majesty should evince the greatest interest would be sure of an enviable distinction among the courtiers, at least for a time, and would receive something substantial by way of reward from the Queen or the Car- dinal, or both. 150 THE LITTLE KING Sweet Mam'selle and Jean had spent several evenings in the Jew's interesting house before the discussion of the King's birthday entertainment had begun at court. On one occasion Benoni entertained them with a few strange exhibitions of what they and, in a way, he himself con- sidered manifestations of Black Magic. To say that Jean and Sweet Mam'selle were in- terested, though very much frightened, would by no means express their state of mind on leaving the Jew's house. But at a distance from danger, curiosity is stronger than fear, so they bought protective amulets from a priest and returned again and again to witness the wonders of Ben- oni's strange art, feeling measurably safe from the all too interesting devil who, they suspected, was indirectly furnishing their entertainments. While the great personages of the court were puzzling their brains to find a novelty in the way of amusement for the King's birthday, what wonder is it that Sweet Mam'selle, having in mind the Jew's wonderful powers, should long to exploit a plan that would have entertained the King even in his old age, after he had run the A VERY OLD JEW gamut of all amusements that the ingenious French brain could discover or invent? But she was true to her promise to Benoni, and would tell no one about La Sainte Croix until she had received permission from its lord. While Miriam was a child Baptiste called her his sister and so regarded her, but when she became a young woman of fifteen or sixteen, his brother- ly love underwent a great and disturbing change. Spurred by his new love, he spoke to Benoni on the sub- ject and received hearty per- mission to woo the girl. Baptiste lost no time, but 5 set about the pleasing task at once, and within a reason- able period received such as- surances as a modest girl may give that he might have her, her hand, and best of all, her heart, if the transfer could be arranged satisfactorily to all concerned and without arousing the ire of 152 THE LITTLE KING those who had no right to be concerned at all. The difficulties in the way of a happy mar- riage between the twain lay in the fact that under the Mosaic law a Jew could not marry a gentile, and under the French law a Christian could not marry a Jew. So far as Benoni was concerned, the Mo- saic law might have been infracted with his entire consent, for learning had long since delivered him from the bondage of Judaism. He was willing that his daughter should abjure the faith of her fathers and enter Holy Church if she might thereby receive Baptiste as a reward for her apostasy, for he believed that one who worshiped God honestly, in any way, worshiped Him in truth. His brother Jews were the ones who would be apt to create disturbance in this Parisian Judea, for of all the people of earth, your religious fanatic loves best to make trouble, pref- erably for others, but failing in that, for himself. It is true that Benoni had not intrusted his great secret even to his own people, but the marriage of his daughter would make it public, and he feared that his meddlesome brethren, A VERY OLD JEW 153 zealous and jealous for the sake of a religion which had cursed their race for centuries, would eagerly drop their own affairs to interfere in his and to make as much trouble as possible for him and his household. The prospect of trouble with his Jewish brothers did not disturb Benoni so much as his fear of the French law, which, if infracted, would bring down upon him the heavy hand of the Cardinal's greedy minions. The marriage was very near his heart and the matter was frequently discussed in the family councils during a period of several months prior to the King's tenth birthday. "How may it be brought about, my children?" asked Benoni one evening when the interesting subject was under discussion. He had asked the same question many times before. "If you marry in the Jewish manner well, Baptiste is a Chris- tian." "That fact will in no way hamper me," said Baptiste. "The Church burned my father and mother and left me to starve. I was saved by a Jew." Then he clasped Miriam's hand and kissing it tenderly, continued: "Here is my religion. 154 THE LITTLE KING Other religions have brought me only evil. I would worship all my life at this shrine." Miriam clasped his hand warmly and whispered: "No, no, Baptiste, I shall be the worshiper and you will be the shrine. I do hope you and father may discover some means whereby I may kneel before my shrine all the days of my life." "If by good fortune we could obtain a royal sanction to the marriage, we should be safe in celebrating it," said Benoni, falteringly. "Why not buy it from the Cardinal?" sug- gested Baptiste. "I have a small bag of gold which" "That is the last resort," interrupted Benoni. "If we buy the Cardinal to-day, we shall have to buy him or some of his officers to-morrow. The extortion will continue as long as His Emi- nence believes we have a sou left. Then when we are stripped of all we have, he will turn upon us and rend us because we have no more to give. No, no, my son! Privileges from Mazarin are but gifts of the devil, granted to lure a vic- tim to ruin." "I fear you are right," responded Baptiste, dolefully. A VERY OLD JEW 155 'But I have been wondering, of late, if the Little King could not be reached through our friends, Jean Breton and his Majesty's nurse," continued Benoni, thoughtfully. "He loves her devotedly, and though he is still but a child, I have heard that he has exhibited a right royal temper, and has had his own way on many occasions, despite the opposition of every one. In four short years he will be crowned, and I suppose the courtiers are beginning to seek his favor for future use." "The very thing!" cried Baptiste, joyfully. "The very thing!" Then turning to Miriam and her mother, he told them all about Jean Breton and Sweet Mam'selle. Miriam, of course, gave it as her opinion that her wise father and still wiser lover had solved the problem and that the obstacles to her happiness would soon be removed by royal sanction. This all happened before Jean and Sweet Mam'selle had visited La Sainte Croix, though not before their visits to Baptiste's shop and to the Jew's rooms above the shop, as already told. Miriam was for plunging into the affair at once, but Benoni advised making haste slowly. 156 THE LITTLE KING "Baptiste and I have seen this Jean Breton and his sweetheart on only three or four occa- sions. We don't know them and they don't know us. I believe they are honest and may be trusted, but we must know it before we place ourselves in their power. We must be reasonably sure that they will be willing to accept the responsibility of asking this favor at the King's hands before we attempt to thrust it on them. After Baptiste and I have seen more of them, I hope we shall be willing to entrust them with our secret to the extent of inviting them to our house to break bread with us if they will come. Of course, they hate a Jew. Our first task is to turn that hatred into love. I doubt if it ever has been done, or or can be done. One of the paradoxes of life is the bitterness with which man hates man, because of his love of God." It was after this conversation that Jean and Sweet Mam'selle were invited to La Saintc Crokc and entrusted with the secrets of the Jewish household. After that, events piled one upon another with that fatal, confusing rapidity which usually precedes disaster. CHAPTER VI THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE THE Little King, the Queen and the Cardinal had been voluntary prisoners in the Palais Royal for many months because of the hatred the Parisians bore the Cardinal and the Queen. The people always loved their child king and after the burden of the House Tax had been removed by his childish command, he had become dearer to them than ever before. Long confine- ment in the palace was beginning to tell on his health, so once in a while he was permitted to go out incognito with his nurse, Sweet Mam'selle. Of course, these occasions were red letter days to the Little King. One evening Jean, Sweet Mam'selle, Baptiste and Miriam planned to go to the country, out in the direction of the Bois de Vincennes to spend the afternoon on the following Sunday. When 157 i 5 8 THE LITTLE KING told of the excursion, the Little King at once said that he, too, would go. "We will see if it can be arranged," said the King's governor, the Marquis de Villeroi, when His Majesty told him of his intention. "We will see?" exclaimed the King, angrily. "Who are you, M. le Marquis, to say that you will see what the King shall do? You are always interfering in my affairs. Wait till I am crowned, and I will show you who is King in a way you will not like." The Marquis, in common with every one else about the court, was beginning to have a whole- some dread of the day when the Little King should be crowned. The result was that His Majesty was growing more imperious day by day and had his will in nearly everything. He would soon be ten years old. At fourteen he would be crowned. He had a good memory and four years is a very short time. No King could be expected to forget an injury, fancied or real, in so brief a period, however quickly he might forget a benefit. So every one about the King, with perhaps the one exception of the Queen, THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 159 was growing wary of this child, who would soon hold life and fortune in the hollow of his hand. "We shall have two other friends with us, Your Majesty," suggested Sweet Mam'selle. "Who are they?" asked the King. "Monsieur Baptiste Guiron and his sweetheart, Mam'selle Miriam," answered Sweet Mam'selle. "Baptiste Guiron," said the Little King, trying to think. "Oh, he is the man who helped you to find me the night I was lost with Louise Jarbeau. That was the night you, M. le Mar- quis, thrust me from your carriage steps in front of the Bastile." The Little King had never forgiven his gov* ernor that moment of blindness. "I beg Your Majesty not to mention that awful mistake," pleaded the Marquis; "I was half crazed with fear lest harm should befall you, and was not responsible for what I did." "You should not have thrust me off so cruelly, even had I been only what you thought I was, a boy of the street." "I pray forgiveness," answered the Marquis; "I was guilty of a great " i6o THE LITTLE KING "Never mind, M. le Marquis," interrupted the King; "You go to the Queen and bring me her consent to go with Sweet Mam'selle to the Bois de Vincennes next Sunday and I'll forgive you. If the Queen refuses, I'll hang you the day after I am crowned." In the course of an hour the Marquis returned. The King had grown impatient. When Villeroi entered the room, the little despot exclaimed angrily : "A whole hour, M. le Marquis! If you con- THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE i6f tinue to be as tardy on the King's business well, just wait till I am crowned!" The office of governor to the King had ceased to be a sinecure. "I was delayed in obtaining an audience with the Queen, Your Majesty,'* answered Villeroi. "Did she know you sought her with a message from me?" asked the King. "Yes, Your Majesty. The Queen graciously consents." "Well, when I am crowned, her Majesty had better had better " The King stopped, hardly knowing what he would do with his mother after he was crowned. He could hang everybody else, but that course with his mother might be ques- tionable. So he dropped the subject, turned to Sweet Mam'selle and said: "I'll wear a plain black suit and a hat without plumes. Remove the gold buttons from one of my dark cloaks the one I wore last and take the diamond buck- les off the shoes. We'll get Louise and take her with us." "Yes, Your Majesty, if the Queen consents," whispered Sweet Mam'selle. ii 162 THE LITTLE KING "Go, M. le Marquis! Do you hear? Go to the Queen and tell her that we intend to take Mam'selle Louise Jarbeau with us. Oh, I wish I were crowned now!" He stamped his foot impatiently. "This sending off to the Queen every time I want to blink my eye grows irksome." Villeroi returned with permission, and the Lit- tle King began to plan the excursion in detail. It was arranged that a carriage, though not a royal carriage, should await the excursionists just beyond the Porte de Vincennes. In the carriage there should be a basket well filled with lunch, and following the carriage at a respectful dis- tance, there should come four or five members of the Swiss Guard in citizen's garb. The King and his friends would walk to the Porte de Vincennes, picking up Louise Jarbeau on the way, and when they were tired walking, they would take the carriage outside the gate. When Baptiste and Miriam were informed of the honor in store for them, they were delighted, and when Benoni heard the news, he said: "Every- thing seems propitious. I hope the King will learn to love my daughter and Baptiste. If so, THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 163 we may easily obtain a royal sanction to the marriage." The Little King thought the long days would never drag out their weary way, but they did, and at last the eventful Sunday came, bringing with it a bright, soft sun. His Majesty, Sweet Mam- 'selle, and Jean Breton went to Baptiste's shop, where the King received the apothecary with a .gracious smile. While waiting for Miriam, he stood with Sweet Mam- 'selle at the back door of the shop, facing what appeared to be a blank wall less than two yards away. Sud- denly the wall opened as if by magic, and from it emerged Benoni's daughter, fair and radiant as an houri, and strange as a visitant from an- other world to the eyes of the Little King. 164 THE LITTLE KING "This is Monsieur Baptiste's sweetheart, Mam- 'selle Miriam, your Majesty," said Sweet Mam'selle. Miriam fell to her knees before the King, who gazed at her in astonishment for a moment, and then held out his hand. She took the proffered hand and kissed it reverently. She remained on her knees waiting to be told to rise, but for a time the Little King spoke not a word. He stood a full minute, gazing at Miriam's beautiful face; then bent forward and kissed her lips, after which he stepped back, breathed a sigh and murmured half in reverie: "Now you may rise." The hidden gate had remained ajar during the brief scene, so that when Miriam rose the Little King caught a glimpse of the beautiful garden within the walls of La Sainte Croix. Baptiste, noticing his glance, hastened to close the gate, but his Majesty was too quick for him, and springing forward, entered before Baptiste could reach it. This premature discovery alarmed the friends, for their plans had not yet fully ripened. But there was no way of correcting the mistake, so they all followed the King, who evidently intended THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 165 to explore the strangest, fairest spot of earth he had ever beheld. Baptiste closed the gate after the mischief had been done and awaited the will of his Majesty. The Little King walked about for a few minutes in open-eyed wonder, drinking in the fairy-like beauties of the place. It seemed to be a corner of Paradise. The narrow white paths between hedges of flowers and shrubs, all new to the King, the tiny pergolas, the minareted summer houses of fairy mimicry, the miniature trees so small that their shade seemed sufficient only for a race of elves, bewildered and enchanted the King. After a little time he rubbed his eyes, clasped Sweet Mam'selle's hand and asked: "Where am I? What place is this?" "This is Miriam's home," answered Sweet Mam'selle. "Is is tha that wh why she is so beauti- ful?" stammered the Little King "I suppose so," replied Sweet Mam'selle, smiling. The King looked about him, walked through two or three of the narrow paths, went back to Sweeet Mam'selle and said with emphasis: i66 THE LITTLE KING "We'll stay here; we'll not go to the Bois de Vincennes." "But the carriage will be waiting at the gates, and the Swiss Guardsmen will be there," sug- gested Sweet Mam'selle. "You go and tell them not to wait for me," said the Little King, turning to Jean. "But they will not believe Monsieur Jean, my King," said Sweet Mam'selle. "If he goes, they will return to the palace with the report that you are lost. Then the Cardinal and M. le Marquis will send out to find you and our fine day will be spoiled. Besides we promised to take Louise Jarbeau, and she will be waiting all decked out in her clean mass gown. We must go to the Porte de Vincennes, my King." "Then we'll all go together, and I'll tell the carriage and the Swiss Guardsmen that I don't want them. We'll get Louise Jarbeau and come back here, and we'll shut the gate, and no one will know where I am." Little Majesty was determined; there was no other course for Sweet Mam'selle to take, so they all hurried off to the Porte de Vincennes. THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 167 They went first to seek Louise Jarbeau, whom they found playing with a half score of children, dogs and goats. She wore her mass gown, which had been clean earlier in the morning, but was sadly the worse for contact with numerous boys, compared to whom the goats and dogs were shining examples of cleanliness. When Louise espied the King, she cried out: "Oh, there's Fourteen!" Then she ran to his Majesty, who received her with a childish, stately smile, and with a courtliness never excelled in his later days, introduced the new friends: "Mam'selle Louise Jarbeau, I present you to Monsieur Baptiste and and his sweetheart." Louise, who was not in a gracious mood that morning, simply glanced toward Miriam and Bap- tiste without in any way acknowledging the in- troduction; then took Fourteen by the hand, saying: "Now we can play real hide and seek. There is a goat here that can find you no matter where you hide." The temptation to play hide and seek with the wonderful goat was hard for the King to resist, but a glance up to Miriam's face recalled the i68 THE LITTLE KING beauties of La Sainte Croix, so he answered, smiling : "We'll play with the goat some other time, Louise. We are going now to the Porte de Vincennes to get our lunch basket; then we are going back to the house of Mam'selle Mam- 'selle " He paused, turned, smiling, toward Miriam, and said in his childish courtly manner: "I , crave pardon. The name has has I have forgotten it." "Mam'selle Miriam," interposed Sweet Mam- 'selle. "Yes, we are going to the beautiful home of Mam'selle Miriam," said the King. Louise hung in the wind for a moment, think- THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 169 ing of the disagreeable afternoon she had spent in Fourteen's house, then began to pout, and drawing away from the King, said with emphasis: "I don't want to go to anybody's home, and I won't go." Louise's "won't" was a word to be respected, for she belonged, every inch of her, to that large and interesting class of Eve's descendants who won't when they won't. She was perhaps the only person in France who would have dared say "won't" to Louis XIV. The Little King, startled by the unusual word, looked at Louise for a moment with a smile of amusement, then turned to Sweet Mam- 'selle and shrugged his shoulders as if to say: "In a case like this, even a king is helpless." But he wanted Louise. With her impertinent little airs, she was even more beautiful to him than the golden-haired Miriam, so he turned to her smiling. "But I I wa want you to to co come with us," he said, stammeringly. Louise looked at him for a moment, laughed softly and observed: "Why, you talk like a goat.'* 170 THE LITTLE KING Surely Louise was not in a pleasant mood this morning. Sweet Mam'selle stepped quickly to her side, and caught her by the shoulder, shaking her gently. "If you speak so disrespectfully, we'll not take you with us, and we'll never come for you again." "I don't care," answered Louise, shaking off Sweet Mam'selle's hand. "I'd rather play with the goat anyway." She gave convincing evidence of her preference by starting toward the group of boys, goats and dogs that stood at a respectful distance watching Louise and her fine friends. "We'll leave her here," said Sweet Mam'selle, turning to go. But the King plucked her by the sleeve, saying : "Tell her we have a nice lunch with sugar bonbons in the basket." Sweet Mam'selle was reluctant, but she went to Louise again and said: "We have a nice basket of lunch in the car- riage down by the Porte de Vincennes. There are bonbons, and all sorts of good things to eat." THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 171 But "good things" to Fourteen and Sweet Mam'selle were not "good things" to Louise. She had dined once in the Palais Royal and had found the cooking detestable. After a moment's hesitancy, she answered: "I'm afraid to eat with a knife, and I won't eat with that thing that has three sharp points." However, her manner showed that she was wavering and wanted to be coaxed. Just at that moment one of her boy friends, probably a cousin to the goat, whispered: "Don't go with them, Louise. They'll eat your Here was opposition from the other side of the case, and that morning opposition from any source was especially obnoxious to Louise. Sweet Mam'selle took a step or two backward, indicating that she and the King were going to leave. The boy's advice seemed to impel Louise to take the opposite course, so she looked up to Sweet Mam'selle and asked: "Have you lots of meat in the basket?" "Yes, yes. You may have all the meat you want if you come with us." 172 THE LITTLE KING On receiving this glad news, Louise dimpled and smiled, took Sweet Mam'selle's hand and walked graciously over to his Majesty, King Louis XIV, who had been cooling his heels, waiting on her whim. The King was very happy because of Louise's change of temper, and gave the word to start for the Porte de Vincennes. There they found the Swiss Guardsmen, the carriage and the basket of lunch with "lots of meat" in it. To Louise and to most of the people of Paris, meat was the ne plus ultra of good things to eat. The King being tired with his long walk, Sweet Mam'selle suggested that they all ride back to the Rue de Bethisy and stop at the Rue Sainte Croix, where they would dismiss the carriage for the day. The disguised Swiss Guardsmen received no instructions so they followed the King, running to keep him in view. When the carriage was dismissed at the foot of Rue Sainte Croix, the Swiss Guardsmen con- tinued to follow the King at a respectful dis- tance, and when they saw him enter Baptiste's THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 173 shop, loitered about the door, waiting like faith- ful watchdogs for him to come out. After waiting an hour or more, the captain of the little Swiss company, who was an honest, earnest, thick-skulled fellow from the Canton of Berne, began to fear that evil had befallen the King, so he knocked at the closed door of Bap- tiste's shop. Receiving no response, for the King and his friends were within the walls of La Sainte Croix and could not hear, the worthy Switzer continued to knock and after a time broke down the door. The noise he made at- tracted a crowd of curious idlers, who tried to follow him when he entered the shop; but they were driven back, and the broken street door was barricaded from within. Immediately the news spread throughout the street, and thence up and down the Rue de Bethisy, that four men had broken into the shop of Baptiste Guiron. In a very short time the crowd of curious idlers was augmented by many others who came to see but remained to riot. Meantime, the Swiss Guardsmen searched the shop and the Jew's room upstairs, seeking the Little 174 THE LITTLE KING King. Failing to find him, they opened the back door of the* shop, only to discover a small court, closed in by a high stone wall in which no open- ing could be found. The Swiss Captain and his men became greatly alarmed for the King's safety. They had been sent to protect him and would be held responsible if evil befell him. After carefully examining the walled court, they returned to the shop and went to the Jew's rooms to discover, if possible, a door or opening through which the King might have been spirited away. While the Swiss were pursuing their search upstairs, the crowd in front of the shop, wishing to prevent robbery, broke down the barricaded street door and rushed in to seize the robbers. Hearing the commotion in the shop, the Swiss came downstairs, and were immediately seized and bound. It had been the policy of Louis XIII, who established the Swiss Guard, to select for Palace Men those who could not speak French, believing that they would be less apt to learn treason from the Parisians. Thus it happened that only one THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 175 of the men who had been sent to guard the King could speak French at all, and his vocabu- lary was limited to a few words. He tried to explain to his assailants that he was seeking the King, but they could not or would not under- stand him. The Jew's house was so snugly hidden away from the world that only a great noise -could penetrate the walls, but the disturbance in Jean's shop was so great that it was heard in the little garden, and Baptiste ran to the rescue. When he entered the back door of the shop and beheld the angry crowd surrounding the prostrate Swiss, he demanded the reason for the outrage. "These men broke down your shop door and were robbing you," said one of the crowd, point- ing to the Guardsmen. "Nothing of the sort!" cried Baptiste, angrily. "They are friends of mine. Get out of my shop or I'll call the Prefect's police!" After much persuasion, he succeeded in clearing the shop. Then he closed the door and cut the ropes that bound the Swiss Guardsmen. 176 THE LITTLE KING With difficulty the Captain made it understood that he was seeking the Little King. Baptiste saw the honest fellow's mistake and tried to explain : "If you will return to the street, the King will come to you at once and will assure you that he is well and unhurt." The Captain was stubborn and insisted on being led to the King, but after much importunity, con- sented to wait in the street five minutes. Within that time the Little King presented himself at the door of the shop and the honest Switzers gave voice to their joy in the only French words they thoroughly knew : "Five le Roif" Immediately the crowd took up the shout, thereby attracting so many to the scene that soon the little Rue Sainte Croix and the Rue de Bethisy were filled to overflowing. The shop door was again closed and a council of war was held within. Sweet Mam'selle wanted the King to return to the Jew's house, while Jean Breton went to the Palais Royal to bring a large detachment of Swiss Guards to conduct his THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 177 Majesty home. But the Little King spoke up bravely : "No, I'll go home with you. I don't fear my people. Come with me, Sweet Mam'selle. I'll take Louise: you follow with Monsieur Jean and Monsieur Baptiste." When all were ready, he ordered the door opened, took frightened Louise by the hand, and holding it up in his courtly fashion as if he were walking through a cotillion, stepped to the doorsill, waved his hat to the people and smiled. A great shout of "Five le Roi!" went up not only from the throat but from the heart of every man who saw the beautiful Little King. Then he held up his hand for silence and spoke to them: "I thank you, my good people, and now I want you to make way for me so that I may go home." He stepped bravely down to the pavement. An aisle was made through the crowd, and as he passed between its human walls, always holding up Louise's hand, the people fell on their knees, called God's blessing on his head, touched him 12 178 THE LITTLE KING reverently as he passed, kissed the skirts of his "plain black cloak" and wept in an ecstacy of hero worship such as could have sprung from the hearts of no people save the French. How it was possible for Louis XIV and his successor to turn this great love to burning hatred is one of the mysteries of human depravity which surely no one can understand. Jean, Sweet Mam'selle and Baptiste followed the King and Louise. Two men of the crowd took it on themselves to clear the way for the King, so he easily passed through and soon started THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 179 up the Rue de Bethisy on his way to the Palais Royal, the crowd following at his heels. A baby king on the streets of Paris accompanied by a baby girl from the gutter was a sight as new as it was interesting to the Parisians. The crowd gathered numbers as it moved, and long before it arrived at the Palais Royal had assumed large proportions. The news that a mob was approaching spread quickly to the royal apartments, carrying terror to the hearts of the Queen and the Cardinal. Every one hurried to the windows of the King's apartments over the gate, and when they saw the great crowd marching up the street with the courtly Little King in the lead, still holding up Louise's hand cotillion fashion, their fear changed to wonder and their wonder to amusement, for the crowd marched in orderly silence and with bared heads. They were bringing home their pompous Little King. When Louis reached the palace, Rupert, the captain of the Swiss Guard, opened the gates for his Majesty, but the King beckoned to him to come outside. Rupert was very tall. When i8o THE LITTLE KING he knelt, cap in hand, before the Little King, Louis whispered : "Lift me to your shoulder, Monsieur Rupert, and stand on the mounting block, just as tall as you can make yourself." In a moment the Little King was seated on the shoulder of the tall Swiss captain, who im- mediately climbed to the mounting block near the gate. Instantly Louise was standing by his side on the block. She had no intention of being left out of the interesting occasion. For a moment the Little King overlooked the crowd, then waved his hat and kissed his hand. The shout of gladness that answered his salute was balm to the fearful hearts within the palace. After allowing the crowd to shout itself hoarse, the Little King lifted his hand to com- mand silence, and when quiet was restored, spoke in clear, childish tones: "I thank you, my good people, for bringing me home. When I am crowned I'll be a good king to you and make you as happy as I can. Now, please go home and love your Little King." Then the gates were opened and the Little THE OLD CLOISTER HOUSE 181 King entered the palace on the shoulder of his tall captain, followed by the glad shouts of the people. As he was passing through the gates, he called to Louise who was still on the mounting block. "Come in, Louise, come in!" Sweet Mam'selle offered to lift Louise to the ground, saying : "Fourteen wants you to go into the palace with him." But Louise shook her head emphatically, as she answered : "I don't want to go in there and I won't. I was in there once and I didn't like it" She suited the action to the word, sprang from the mounting block and was almost lost in the crowd before Jean Breton could overtake her. But he caught her and took her home, where he left her very happy, playing hide and seek with the wonderful goat "that could find you no mat- ter where you hid." CHAPTER VII THE KING AND THE JEW OF course the adventures of the Little King must be told to the Queen and the Car- dinal, so after much questioning he under- took the narrative. He soon began to stammer and Sweet Mam'selle was commanded to finish. She told the story of the day, speaking briefly as possible of the house of La Sainte Croix, re- ferring to it only as the home of Monsieur Bap- tiste Guiron's sweetheart. She introduced Bap- tiste, whom the king had invited into the palace, and explained that he was one of the friends who had helped to find the King when his Maj- esty was lost. She made no mention of Benoni, but laid great stress on the enthusiasm of the people, saying : "I know little of the affairs of state, but despite my ignorance, I feel sure that his Majesty is nearer to the hearts of his people than ever 182 THE KING AND THE JEW 183 before. When they saw him among them, trusting them implicitly, it brought tears to their eyes, and when he walked in their midst, so bold and brave, they fell to their knees and poured out their love at his feet. I hope and believe, your Majesty and your Eminence, that this day's work by our Little King will make your tasks easier and will make the people of France happier." Before she had finished speaking, tears came to her eyes and she fell to her knees beside the 184 THE LITTLE KING Little King, clasping him in her arms as he placed his cheek against hers. The Cardinal was far too shrewd a statesman not to see that the Little King had done more in one day to soften the hearts of the Parisians and to win their submission than his Eminence, the Queen and all the ministers had been able to do in years. He knew that the story would travel to every part of France and would touch the hearts of the French people; he knew that to govern an ignorant people, one must arouse their love; he knew that the most despotic tyrant could hold a people in submission only by holding their hearts and by keeping them from thinking; therefore, he knew that the Little King, by Sweet Mam- 'selle's help, had stemmed the tide of public hatred, at least for a time, and had given his Eminence a new lease of despotic power. So it turned out that the adventure, which might have brought trouble to Sweet Mam'selle, brought credit to her. The Queen, the Cardinal, the Due d'Orleans and all the courtiers had been terribly frightened when they saw the crowd of people marching on the palace. But when the THE KING AND THE JEW 185 affair turned out so favorably, their fear changed to hysterical joy and Sweet Mam'selle, the King's humble nurse, became for the moment a person of importance. After their Majesties and the Cardinal had re- ceived the congratulations of the courtiers, the King began to tell them of the beauties of La Sainte Croix. "Ajid Monsieur Baptiste's sweetheart! You should see her!" cried the King, enthusiastically. "She is not like our women. Her eyes are blue, not black, and her hair is the color of of it is like copper and gold. You never saw any one so beautiful!" "Yes, yes, tell us more about her," pleaded the Due d'Orleans. The Cardinal, too, pricked up his ears and said in his oily, unctious manner: "Ah, golden hair, say you?" "Yes," answered the King. "And and " Just at that point he caught a glance from Sweet Mam'selle's eyes and stopped speaking. Urged by the Duke and the Cardinal, he stammered for a moment, turned to Sweet Mam'selle and said: i86 THE LITTLE KING "You you te tell them about her." Sweet Mam'selle said: "There is little to tell about her, your Eminence, save that she is a very worthy young girl, and the fiancee of our friend here, Monsieur Baptiste." "But her beauty; tell us of it," insisted the Duke. "She is rather pretty, but I fear your Highness would not admire her," answered Sweet Mam- 'selle. "Her hair and eyes are of a light color, but" "Your Majesty just said she was wonderfully beautiful," said the Duke, turning toward the King. Louis did not know why Sweet Mam'selle wished to conceal the fact of Miriam's beauty, but he felt sure she had a good reason, so he turned his back on Baptiste and said, in under- tones, to the Due d'Orleans: "All ladies are beautiful, Uncle. I praised this one to please her lover, Monsieur Baptiste." The Queen, the Cardinal and the Duke ex- changed smiling glances and shrugged their shoulders; Sweet Mam'selle breathed a sigh of THE KING AND THE JEW 187 relief, and the King was more convinced than ever that the less he said about La Sainte Croix and Miriam, the better it would be for them. The damage to Baptiste's shop proved to be small and easily repaired. The kindliness of the crowd and the abject apologies of the too earnest Swiss Guardsmen went a long way toward giv- ing the whole affair a humorous complexion, and removed all anger or fear from the hearts of Baptiste and Benoni. Then, too, the pride they felt in having had the King under their roof would have been balm to a far more serious wound. One evening, not long after the eventful Sun- day, Jean Breton and Sweet Mam'selle went over to La Sainte Croix, where the good though mis- taken motives of the Swiss Guardsmen were dis- cussed and laughed over. While sipping a glass of rose wine, Benoni said: "If we could see more of the King, we might be able to obtain his royal sanction to the mar- riage which is so near our hearts." i88 THE LITTLE KING "I feel sure we can bring his Majesty here again," said Sweet Mam'selle. "I know he will be glad to come, and as the last visit turned out so satisfactorily to the Cardinal, I am equally sure his Eminence and her Majesty will consent, especially as the King needs recreation. Every one at court is trying to invent entertainment for the King's birthday. Our poor little King cer- tainly does need amusement." "Perhaps you might induce her Majesty and his Eminence to come with you and the King some evening if you drop a hint of the entertain- ment we can give them here," suggested Benoni. "The Cardinal, being a churchman, might ob- ject to what he would see in our house," said Baptiste. "Black Magic is under the bane, you know." "It should not be," said Benoni. "The great- est works on Black Magic are the book of Pope Honorius and the Great Key of King Solomon. Surely when the Pope and King Solomon teach an art, it cannot be evil, and so wise a man as his Eminence cannot find evil in it. But all that I shall show them can be explained on purely THE KING AND THE JEW 189 natural principles, though I admit that the Prince of Darkness may have a great deal to do with certain strange and unusual manifestations of nat- ural forces." "That is all true but will his Eminence want to believe it?" asked Baptiste. "The Cardinal is a learned man," answered Benoni, "and is no more a Christian than I am. His god is Mazarin and the best means to suc- cess is his religion. I feel sure that I could in- terest him, and if we might thereby obtain his sanction under seal, Miriam could easily be taken into the Church, and the object of my life at- tained in the happiness of my two children. The plan and the picture were alluring, and the little party of friends within the walls of La Sainte Croix spent a very happy evening discussing them. The result of the discussion was that Sweet Mam'selle consented to mention the subject to the King, and to ask him to men- tion it to the Queen and the Cardinal. When the Fates would ruin a man, they use alike his wisdom and his folly, his virtues and his faults. All paths lead down hill. igo THE LITTLE KING So it was with poor old Benoni. His pride in entertaining royalty, his love for Miriam and Baptiste, his wise, adroit plan for making the seemingly impossible marriage feasible, all has- tened the day of his sorrow. Sweet Mam'selle, though instinctively doubtful of ultimate good, willingly consented to take the King again to La Sainte Croix, and during the week following the family council, watched for a favorable opportunity of broaching the subject to him. He saved her the trouble by informing her one Saturday evening that he intended visit- ing Monsieur Baptiste and his sweetheart the fol- lowing day after mass. "Have you the Queen's consent, and the Cardin- al's and M. le Marquis'?" asked Sweet Mam'selle. "The Queen's consent! The Cardinal's con- sent! M. le Marquis! Why am I King of France if I must ask every one's consent when- ever I want to turn around?" "I'll take you, my King, without any one's consent, if you insist," said Sweet Mam'selle, meekly. "But afterwards I, not you, shall have to pay dearly for the fault. I should be denied THE KING AND THE JEW 191 the pleasure of serving you and of loving you, and of being near you. That would break my heart, my King. Then, also, they might put me in the Bastile, as they did once before. But I'll take you if you wish." "No, no!" cried the Little King, throwing his arms passionately about her neck. "I'll ask every one. I'll say to the Queen: 'Madam, I humbly beg your permission.' I'll say to my governor: 'Will M. le Marquis condescend to permit the King to have a little liberty?' And I'll say to the Cardinal, whom I hate: 'Will your Eminence graciously permit your slave, the King, to go out of a Sunday after mass?' Oh, the Cardinal! Just let him wait till I am crowned! He'll find the border of France much too far south for his convenience !" Thus it came about that with everybody's con- sent, Sweet Mam'selle and Jean Breton again went with the Little King to visit La Sainte Croix the following Sunday after mass. Soon after entering the garden, rain began to fall, whereupon the Little King and his friends sought shelter in the house. The cloister win- 192 THE LITTLE KING dows were few and small, so the dusk interior, even in the daytime, was lighted by hanging lamps of many colored crystal and fantastic shapes. The oriental splendor of the room, with ,its bright colored cushions, its quaint divans, its soft .floor rugs woven in a hun- dred mystic patterns and as rnany exquisite hues, bewil- dered the King, and even rnore than the fairy-like garden, aroused his admira- 'tion and awe. At first he showed signs of alarm and clung to Sweet Mam'selle's hand. Unobserved by the King, she motioned to Jean and Baptiste to leave the room, and when she was alone with her little master, fell to her knees, placing her arms about him. "Does my King want to remain, or shall we return to the Palais Royal?" she asked. "The rain, I fear, will prevent our going any place else to-day." THE KING AND THE JEW 193 The King did not reply, but clung more closely to Sweet Mam'selle and continued to look about him, apparently to convince himself, if possible, that all he saw was real. After a long pause, Sweet Mam'selle said: "Monsieur Jean and I have been here many times. All these beautiful things are real. In the East the houses of all wealthy persons are like this. Mam'selle Miriam's father, Monsieur Benoni, is from the East. He is a very old man and a very good man. There is no one here save him, Mam'selle Miriam and her mother. Besides you know you may trust me; I would not bring you into danger. Do not- be afraid." The word "afraid" aroused the king's manli- ness. He disengaged himself from Sweet Mam- 'selle's arms, took a step or two from her, and said, boldly: "I'm not afraid. Nothing can harm me. I am the King." He went to a divan piled high with bright colored cushions and showed his bravery by throw- ing them all to the floor, laughing. When his 13 194 THE LITTLE KING eyes had grown used to the dusk, he looked into every corner, peeked into all the quaint cabinets, and examined the room thoroughly; then running back to Sweet Mam'selle, who had remained kneel- ing, he put his arm about her neck, laughed nervously and said: "I thank you for bringing me here. I never before saw anything so beautiful, but I'm not afraid. I wasn't afraid at first. I took your hand only because the room was so dark I could not see where I was going. You don't think I was afraid, do you, Sweet Mam'selle?" "No, my King. I know you are brave. I wonder if you would like to see Monsieur Benoni, Mam'selle Miriam's father?" "Yes, yes!" cried the Little King, eagerly, bolstering up his courage with his pride. "But I must tell you about him before you see him, if you wish to hear." "Yes, yes. Please tell me," answered the Kin^, whose curiosity was now thoroughly aroused. "First, my King, you must know he is a Jew," said Sweet Mam'selle. The King recoiled. "A Jew!" he exclaimed. THE KING AND THE JEW 195 Of all things on earth, a Jew was the most despicable, not only to the King but to all who held the Christian faith. "Yes, a Jew," continued Sweet Mam'selle. "But I'll tell you more about him. He is a good Jew; better than many Christians you and I know. Before I knew Monsieur Benoni I thought there could not be a good Jew, but after I knew him I changed my mind, and so will you, my King. Monsieur Benoni is a learned physician, who de- votes his time to healing the sick. From the rich he receives pay, but from the poor he takes not a sou. He gives alms and does good secretly. Before your Majesty removed the House Tax, Monsieur Benoni furnished many a poor man money with which to pay the tax and thereby save his home. Monsieur Baptiste says and I believe him that the Jew is the wisest man in Paris. I'll tell you something else if you will promise never to tell any one." "I promise," returned the King. His childish word was always the truth, though afterwards, in a moment of forgetfulness, he broke this promise to the Jew's undoing. 196 THE LITTLE KING "Your Majesty has often seen Monsieur Benoni In the palace; in your very bedroom." The King began to get nervous and stammered : "Wh wh when, ho how?" "When you were ill with the smallpox, he saved your life. He was the old woman that came every morning to teach me how to nurse you." The King's uneasiness increased visibly as he asked : "Ca can he he change hi himself from a man to a woman, and and th then t to a a m man again?" "No, no, my King," answered Sweet Mam- 'selle, laughing. "He was ordered by Seguine to disguise himself as a woman, so that no one should know he was telling Seguine how to treat you." "Oh, I see it all now!" exclaimed the Little King. "I often heard her explaining to Seguine what to do. Then when the old woman was gone, Seguine gave the orders with as big a voice as if he knew what he was about. I always thought Seguine was a fool. Now I THE KING AND THE JEW 197 know he is also a knave. I'll hang him the day after I'm crowned. I want to see the Jew! Quick, quick!" Sweet Mam'selle touched a chime of bells and Jean Breton immediately entered the room. "I want Mam'selle Miriam, too," cried the King. "Tell Mam'selle Miriam and Monsieur Benoni that the King wants to see them," said Sweet Mam'selle, turning toward Jean. When Jean had gone, she rose and led the Little King to a divan, where he sat down amid billows of many colored cushions. 198 THE LITTLE KING Presently Jean, Baptiste and Miriam came in. Miriam dropped to her knee before the King, who leaned forward and taking her face between his hands, kissed her lips. Then he leaned back, looked at her for a moment, and said: "You seem to belong here. But Sweet Mam- 'selle thinks you are not beautiful." Turning quickly to Sweet Mam'selle, he continued: "Why did you not want me to tell my uncle and the Cardinal that Mam'selle Miriam was beautiful? I wondered at the time, but forgot to ask you afterward." "I'll tell your Majesty why to-night," answered Sweet Mam'selle. Miriam remained kneeling until the King, re- membering himself, told her to rise. Then Benoni entered, went to the King and knelt. After the Little King had scrutinized Benoni's face carefully for a minute or two, he said haltingly: "You had no beard when you were a woman, and came to tell Seguine how to cure me." "No, your Majesty. I was compelled, much against my will, to shave my face for the sake of the disguise." THE KING AND THE JEW 199 "Sweet Mam'selle tells me you are very wise and learned," observed the King, smothering a yawn. "Before long I'll be crowned and shall be king in real truth. Then I suppose I, too, shall have to be wise and learned. But it hurts my head to try to be wise and learned now. Doesn't it hurt your head?" "No, your Majesty." "I suppose it doesn't hurt one's head when one gets older. Perhaps one's head gets harder when it gets gray," observed the King. "I believe that is true, your Majesty," agreed Benoni. "But the heart should not grow hard with age." The Little King yawned, remained silent for a moment, and answered: "The Cardinal is always saying that a king should have no heart at all unless it is as hard as a rock. He said he learned that from Richelieu." "That is one of the many things about which I don't know, your Majesty," answered the Jew, humbly. "The Cardinal is far more learned and much wiser than I." 200 THE LITTLE KING The King breathed a sigh: "Then you don't know much. I'm going to hang him just as soon as I'm crowned. I'll hang Monsieur d'Emeri, too, and my uncle, the Due d'Orleans, and my mother, the Queen, too, if she doesn't doesn't " The King checked his words, thinking perhaps he might be going too far in hanging his mother. "I'm afraid your Majesty is already hard- hearted," observed Benoni, laughing. "If you think 7 am, you should know the Cardinal and the Queen and my uncle, and oh, everybody else at court. They would hang any one for a sou. I love Sweet Mam'selle oh, I do love her, and Louise and Monsieur Jean, and I believe I'll love you. Now you may rise. And, oh yes, I love Mam'selle Miriam best of all because she is the most beautiful." But he glanced toward Sweet Mam'selle as if to say: "Of course, excepting you." "I thank your Majesty," said Benoni, rising. "Mam'selle Miriam is my daughter, as you know." "Ah, yes, a Jew," exclaimed the King. THE KING AND THE JEW 201 "Yes, your Majesty, a Jew," answered Benoni. The King remained thoughtful for a mo- ment, then spoke as if to himself: "Mam'selle Miriam a Jew's daughter?" "Yes, Your Majesty," answered Benoni, but added as if in mitiga- tion: "though her mother is not a Jew." The King lay back X 4 among the cushions, and