You cannot be a fortune hunter." "Sire," I answered, "Fame sings loudly the praises of this lady, her beauty and her virtue--praises that lead me to opine she would make me an excellent chatelaine.

I am come to an age when it is well to wed; indeed, Your Majesty has often told me so.

And it seems to me that all France does not hold a lady more desirable.

Heaven send she will agree to my suit!" In that tired way of his that was so pathetic: "Do you love me a little, Marcel ?" he asked.
"Sire," I exclaimed, wondering whither all this was leading us, "need I protest it ?" "No," he answered dryly; "you can prove it.

Prove it by abandoning this Languedoc quest.