He studied the lean, slanting chirography of the prime minister and stroked his grizzled chin.

His thought went back to the days when the handsome Buckingham threw his pearls into an admiring crowd.

"Woman and the world's end," he mused.

"Who will solve them ?" "Who indeed!" echoed Victor, resting his chin on the knuckles of his hand.

"Monsieur, you have heard of the Chevalier du Cevennes ?" "Aye; recently dismissed from court, stripped of his honors, and exiled in disgrace." "I am here to command his immediate return to Paris," and De Saumaise blinked moodily at the fire.
"And what brought about this good fortune ?" "His innocence and another man's honesty." "Ah!" "Monsieur, you are a man of experience; are there not times when the best of us are unable to surmount temptation ?" "Only his Holiness is infallible." "The Chevalier was unjustly exiled for a crime he knew nothing about.
He suffered all this ignominy to save a comrade in arms, whom he believed to be guilty, but who was as innocent as himself.