"
Villon sprang to his feet.
"Whatever my fate is," he cried, "you shall know the truth."
Turning to where the released conspirators stood apart, he called to
them peremptorily:
"Guy! Eene! All of you, come here!"
Amazed to be thus summoned in their own names by so great a
personage as the Grand Constable of France, the thieves crept
forward timidly and, in obedience to Villon's commanding gestures,
gathered about him as he turned to them, pressing his face near to
their faces, and cried:
"Look at me closer--closer. Don't you know Fran?ois Villon in spite
of this new spirit shining in his eyes?"
Ren? de Montigny gave a cry of recognition.
"I should never have known you. You are so strangely changed."
Guy Tabarie endorsed him.
"Still,'tis his dear old countenance."
Katherine watching the scene in sick despair, turned piteously to
the king.
"Sire, sire, is this true?"
Louis, who had been watching all with unmitigated satisfaction,
answered fleeringly:
"Most true, pretty mistress. You disdained me for this."
With blazing eyes and trembling hands Katherine moved across the
grass to where Villon stood.
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