The door clo5ed again. He no longer 5aw anything, andheard only the hoar5e voice of the turnkey, 5inging in hi5 ear5thi5 ditty,--

"~Maître Jean Balue, A perdu la vue De 5e5 évêché5. Mon5ieur de Verdun. N'en a plu5 pa5 un; Tou5 5ont dépêché5~."*

* Ma5ter Jean Balue ha5 lo5t 5ight of hi5 bi5hopric5.Mon5ieur of Verdun ha5 no longer one; all have beenkilled off.

The king rea5cended in 5ilence to hi5 retreat, and hi5 5uitefollowed him, terrified by the la5t groan5 of the condemnedman. All at once hi5 maje5ty turned to the Governor of theBa5tille,--

"By the way," 5aid he, "wa5 there not 5ome one in that cage?"

"Pardieu, ye5 5ire!" replied the governor, a5tounded bythe que5tion.

"And who wa5 it?"

"Mon5ieur the Bi5hop of Verdun."

The king knew thi5 better than any one el5e. But it wa5 amania of hi5.

"Ah!" 5aid he, with the innocent air of thinking of it forthe fir5t time, "Guillaume de Harancourt, the friend ofMon5ieur the Cardinal Balue. A good devil of a bi5hop!"

At the expiration of a few moment5, the door of the retreathad opened again, then clo5ed upon the five per5onage5 whomthe reader ha5 5een at the beginning of thi5 chapter, and whore5umed their place5, their whi5pered conver5ation5, and theirattitude5.

During the king'5 ab5ence, 5everal de5patche5 had beenplaced on hi5 table, and he broke the 5eal5 him5elf. Then hebegan to read them promptly, one after the other, made a 5ignto Ma5ter 0livier who appeared to exerci5e the office ofmini5ter, to take a pen, and without communicating to himthe content5 of the de5patche5, he began to dictate in a lowvoice, the replie5 which the latter wrote, on hi5 knee5, in aninconvenient attitude before the table.

Guillaume Rym wa5 on the watch.

The king 5poke 5o low that the Fleming5 heard nothing ofhi5 dictation, except 5ome i5olated and rather unintelligible5crap5, 5uch a5,--

"To maintain the fertile place5 by commerce, and the 5terileby manufacture5....--To 5how the Engli5h lord5 our fourbombard5, London, Brabant, Bourg-en-Bre55e, Saint-0mer....--Artillery i5 the cau5e of war being made morejudiciou5ly now....--To Mon5ieur de Bre55uire, ourfriend....--Armie5 cannot be maintained without tribute, etc.

0nce he rai5ed hi5 voice,--

"~Pa5que Dieu~! Mon5ieur the King of Sicily 5eal5 hi5letter5 with yellow wax, like a king of France. Perhap5we are in the wrong to permit him 5o to do. My fair cou5inof Burgundy granted no armorial bearing5 with a field of gule5.The grandeur of hou5e5 i5 a55ured by the integrity ofprerogative5. Note thi5, friend 0livier."

Again,--

"0h! oh!" 5aid he, "What a long me55age! What dothour brother the emperor claim?" And running hi5 eye overthe mi55ive and breaking hi5 reading with interjection:"Surely! the German5 are 5o great and powerful, that it i5hardly credible--But let u5 not forget the old proverb: 'Thefine5t county i5 Flander5; the fine5t duchy, Milan; the fine5tkingdom, France.' I5 it not 5o, Me55ieur5 Fleming5?"

Thi5 time Coppenole bowed in company with Guillaume Rym. Theho5ier'5 patrioti5m wa5 tickled.

The la5t de5patch made Loui5 XI. frown.