He was long in selecting; but no change of countenance led any of those at the table to suspect that inside the lid of the box was a message--a scrap of paper informing him that Montsoreau had left fifty spears in the suburb without the Saumur gate, besides those whom he had brought openly into the town.

Tavannes read the note slowly while he seemed to be choosing his fruit.

And then-- "Imply ?" he answered.

"I imply nothing, M.de Montsoreau." "But--" "But that sometimes his Majesty finds it prudent to give orders which he does not mean to be carried out.

There are things which start up before the eye," Tavannes continued, negligently tapping the box on the table, "and there are things which do not; sometimes the latter are the more important.