The king turned to me, as he left the room, and said, 'I trust, Monsieur le Baron, that you are content that justice has been done.' "I was too angry to choose my words, and I said firmly, 'I cannot say that I am content, Your Majesty.

Such an outrage as that which has been perpetrated upon my daughter deserves a far heavier punishment than banishment from court; and methinks that an imprisonment, as long as that which he intended to inflict upon her unless she consented to be his wife, would have much more nearly met the justice of the case.' "The king rose to his feet suddenly, and I thought that my boldness would meet with the punishment that I desired for de Tulle; but he bit his lips, and then said coldly: "'You are not often at court, Baron Pointdexter, and are doubtless ignorant that I am not accustomed to be spoken to, in the tone that you have used.

However, I can make due allowance for the great anxiety that you have suffered, at your daughter's disappearance.

I trust that I shall see you and your daughter at my levee, this evening.' "As this was a command, of course we went, and I am bound to say that the king did all in his power to show to his court that he considered her to be wholly blameless.

Of course, the story had already got about, and it was known that the vicomte had been ordered to his estates.