'I'll be sworn that
you have been pawning my goods and letting my room, you knave!'
'Never, your Excellency!' he answered. 'On the contrary, I have
been expecting you.'
'How?' I said. 'To-day?'
'To-day or to-morrow,' he answered, following me in and closing
the door. 'The first thing I said when I heard the news this
morning was--now we shall have M. de Berault back again. Your
Excellency will pardon the children,' he continued, bobbing round
me, as I took the old seat on the three-legged stool before the
hearth. 'The night is cold and there is no fire in your room.'
While he ran to and fro with my cloak and bags, little Gil, to
whom I had stood at St Sulpice's, borrowing ten crowns the same
day, I remember, came shyly to play with my sword hilt.
'So you expected me back when you heard the news, Frison, did
you?' I said, taking the lad on my knee.
'To be sure, your Excellency,' he answered, peeping into the
black pot before he lifted it to the hook.
'Very good. Then now let us hear what the news is,' I said
drily.
'Of the Cardinal, M. de Berault.'
'Ah! And what?'
He looked at me, holding the heavy pot suspended in his hands.
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