In Kings' Byways   By: Stanley John Weyman (1855-1928)

BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "THE CASTLE INN," "COUNT HANNIBAL," ETC.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 1902

COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN

All rights reserved.

BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN

THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF. A Romance. With Frontispiece and Vignette. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

THE STORY OF FRANCIS CLUDDE. A Romance. With four Illustrations. Crown 8vo, $1.25.

A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE. Being the Memoirs of Gaston de Bonne, Sieur de Marsac. With Frontispiece and Vignette. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

UNDER THE RED ROBE. With twelve full page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

MY LADY ROTHA. A Romance of the Thirty Years' War. With eight Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A MINISTER OF FRANCE. With thirty six Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

SHREWSBURY. A Romance. With twenty four Illustrations. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

THE RED COCKADE. A Novel. With 48 illustrations by R. Caton Woodville. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

THE CASTLE INN. A Novel. With six full page Illustrations by Walter Appleton Clarke. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

SOPHIA. A Romance. With twelve full page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

New York: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

[Illustration: A DAUGHTER OF THE GIRONDE

Page 326 ]

CONTENTS

PART I

PAGE

FLORE, 1

CRILLON'S STAKE, 51

FOR THE CAUSE, 86

THE KING'S STRATAGEM, 131

THE HOUSE ON THE WALL, 152

HUNT THE OWLER, 177

THE TWO PAGES, 194

PART II

THE DIARY OF A STATESMAN

EPISODE OF THE FOWL IN THE POT, 213

EPISODE OF THE BOXWOOD FIRE, 238

EPISODE OF THE SNOWBALL, 266

PART III

KING TERROR

A DAUGHTER OF THE GIRONDE, 295

IN THE NAME OF THE LAW, 329

PART I

IN KINGS' BYWAYS

FLORE

(1643)

It was about a month after my marriage and third clerk to the most noble the Bishop of Beauvais, and even admitted on occasions to write in his presence and prepare his minutes, who should marry if I might not? it was about a month after my marriage, I say, that the thunderbolt, to which I have referred, fell and shattered my fortunes. I rose one morning they were firing guns for the victory of Rocroy, I remember, so that it must have been eight weeks or more after the death of the late king, and the glorious rising of the Sun of France and who as happy as I? A summer morning, Monsieur, and bright, and I had all I wished. The river as it sparkled and rippled against the piers of the Pont Neuf far below, the wet roofs that twinkled under our garret window, were not more brilliant than my lord the Bishop's fortunes: and as is the squirrel so is the tail. Of a certainty, I was happy that morning. I thought of the little hut under the pine wood at Gabas in Béarn, where I was born, and of my father cobbling by the unglazed window, his nightcap on his bald head, and his face plaistered where the sherd had slipped; and I puffed out my cheeks to think that I had climbed so high. High? How high might not a man climb, who had married the daughter of the Queen's under porter, and had sometimes the ear of my lord, the Queen's minister my lord of Beauvais in whom all men saw the coming master of France! my lord whose stately presence beamed on a world still chilled by the dead hand of Richelieu!