I won't hurt you if you do as I bid you."
The black figure rocked, a pitiable bundle of terrors, apparently
sobbing plaintively. Thibaut sickened at such shameless fear.
"Stop crying," he growled.
Ren? de Montigny, who had been watching keenly the actions of the
prisoner, interrupted:
"He seems to be laughing," he said.
Thibaut gave a cry of astonishment and stooped down over the
prostrate man, who greeted him with a prolonged and hearty peal of
laughter, which staggered the giant like a blow in the face. At that
moment the tower door was flung open and Tristan appeared.
"The king!" he cried in a voice of thunder.
In another moment, as if by magic, the little garden space was
girdled by the archers of the Scottish Guard, strong hands made sure
of the baffled conspirators, and to their astonishment Louis himself
made his appearance through the open doorway, his malign face
smiling in the moonlight.
CHAPTER XI
THE DEATH OF A WANTON
The sham king leaped to his feet, still laughing, flung off the
black cap with its little row of leaden saints and the rusty black
mantle which mimicked the king's habit, and stood delighted and
defiant before Thibaut, the Fran?ois Villon who thus a second time
had crossed his path.
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