.

EAVESDROPPING.
I turned it over in my mind, after I had left the King's presence, whether or not I should visit with my own hands upon Chatellerault the punishment he had so fully earned.

That I would have gone about the task rejoicing you may readily imagine; but there was that accursed wager, and--to restrain me--the thought of how such an action might be construed into an evasion of its consequences.

Better a thousand times that His Majesty should order his arrest and deal with him for his attempted perversion of justice to the service of his own vile ends.

The charge of having abused his trust as King's commissioner to the extent of seeking to do murder through the channels of the Tribunal was one that could not fail to have fatal results for him--as, indeed, the King had sworn.
That was the position of affairs as it concerned Chatellerault, the world, and me.