'But it is only what I expected of you.' 'Sire,' my companion answered, 'your Majesty has no more devoted servant than myself, unless it be the king my master.' 'By my faith,' Henry answered with energy--'and if I am not a good churchman, whatever those rascally Parisians say, I am nothing--by my faith, I think I believe you!' 'If your Majesty would believe me in that and in some other things also,' M.de Rosny answered, 'it would be very well for France.' Though he spoke courteously, he threw so much weight and independence into his words that I thought of the old proverb, 'A good master, a bold servant.' 'Well, that is what we are here to see,' the king replied.

'But one tells me one thing,' he went on fretfully, 'and one another, and which am I to believe ?' 'I know nothing of others, sire,' Rosny answered with the same spirit.
'But my master has every claim to be believed.

His interest in the royalty of France is second only to your Majesty's.

He is also a king and a kinsman, and it erks him to see rebels beard you, as has happened of late.' 'Ay, but the chief of them ?' Henry exclaimed, giving way to sudden excitement and stamping furiously on the floor.

'He will trouble me no more.