I feed them
full, clothe them warm, pay them well, and to-day your majesty has
an army that would follow me to the devil if I whistled a marching
tune."
"But in the meantime, your sands are running out. Is your heart
failing? Is your pulse flagging?"
"Not a whit. I have been translated without discredit from the
tavern to the palace, and if the worse comes to the worst, I may say
with the dying Caesar, 'Applaud me.'"
The king grinned sardonically.
"Will the worse come to the worst?" he piped, "How is your suit with
the Lady Katherine?"
Villon's smile lingered still on his lips as he answered:
"Sire, no wise man boasts that he knows the heart of a woman, and
yet, I hope for the best."
"But if you fail," the king persisted.
Villon's smile grew more philosophical. In his heart he felt fairly
confident, but spoke cautiously.
"Why, then, when the housewife moon kindles her pale fire on the
hearth of heaven to-morrow, I shall be quiet enough. But either way
you have given me a royal week, and I have made the most of it,
lived a thousand lives, eaten my cake to the last sweet crumb and
have known the meaning of kingship.
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