The Helment of Navarre

CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE
I A FLASH OF LIGHTNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
II AT THE AMOUR DE DIEU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
III M. LE DUC IS WELL GUARDED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
IV THE THREE MEN IN THE WINDOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
V RAPIERS AND A VOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
VI A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
VII A DIVIDED DUTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
VIII CHARLES-ANDRÉ-ÉTIENNE-MARIE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
IX THE HONOUR OF ST. QUENTIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
X LUCAS AND "LE GAUCHER" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
XI VIGO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
XII THE COMTE DE MAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
XIII MADEMOISELLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
XIV IN THE ORATORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
XV MY LORD MAYENNE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
XVI MAYENNE'S WARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
XVII "I'LL WIN MY LADY!". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
XVIII TO THE BASTILLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
XIX TO THE HÔTEL DE LORRAINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
XX "ON GUARD, MONSIEUR" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
XXI A CHANCE ENCOUNTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
XXII THE SIGNET OF THE KING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
XXIII THE CHEVALIER OF THE TOURNELLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
XXIV THE FLORENTINES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
XXV A DOUBLE MASQUERADE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
XXVI WITHIN THE SPIDER'S WEB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
XXVII THE COUNTERSIGN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
XXVIII ST. DENIS--AND NAVARRE!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
XXIX THE TWO DUKES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
XXX MY YOUNG LORD SETTLES SCORES WITH TWO FOES AT ONCE . . . . 440
XXXI "THE VERY PATTERN OF A KING" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461



I

_A flash of lightning._


At the stair-foot the landlord stopped me. "Here, lad, take a candle.
The stairs are dark, and, since I like your looks, I would not have you
break your neck."

"And give the house a bad name," I said.

"No fear of that; my house has a good name. There is no fairer inn in
all Paris. And your chamber is a good chamber, though you will have
larger, doubtless, when you are Minister of Finance."

This raised a laugh among the tavern idlers, for I had been bragging a
bit of my prospects. I retorted:

"When I am, Maître Jacques, look out for a rise in your taxes."

The laugh was turned on mine host, and I retired with the honours of
that encounter. And though the stairs were the steepest I ever climbed,
I had the breath and the spirit to whistle all the way up. What mattered
it that already I ached in every bone, that the stair was long and my
bed but a heap of straw in the garret of a mean inn in a poor quarter? I
was in Paris, the city of my dreams!

I am a Broux of St. Quentin. The great world has never heard of the
Broux? No matter; they have existed these hundreds of years, Masters of
the Forest, and faithful servants of the dukes of St. Quentin. The great
world has heard of the St. Quentins? I warrant you! As loudly as it has
of Sully and Villeroi, Trémouille and Biron. That is enough for the
Broux.