“No, monsieur, no,” replied his Majesty; “they dragged him into the river against his will, and I saw their struggles and his when they thrust him under the water.”

“But, Sire,” replied this punctilious personage, “our criminal law requires the testimony of two witnesses, and your Majesty, all-powerful though you be, can only furnish that of one.”

“Monsieur,” replied the King gently, “I authorise you in passing sentence to state that you heard the joint testimony of the King of France and the King of Navarre.”

Seeing that this failed to convince the judge, his Majesty grew impatient and said to the old Marquis, “King Louis IX., my ancestor, sometimes administered justice himself in the wood at Vincennes; I will to-day follow his august example and administer justice at Saint Germain.”

The throne-room was at once got ready by his order.  Twenty notable burgesses of the town were summoned to the castle, and the lords and ladies sat with these upon the benches.  The King, wearing his orders, took his seat when the two prisoners were placed in the dock.

By their contradictory statements, ever-increasing embarrassment, and unveracious assertions, the jury were soon convinced of their guilt.  The unhappy youth was their brother, and had inherited property from their mother, he being her child by a second husband.  So these monsters murdered him for revenge and greed.  The King sentenced them to be bound hand and foot, and flung into the river in the selfsame place “where they killed their young brother Abel.”

When they saw his Majesty leaving his throne, they threw themselves at his feet, implored his pardon, and confessed their hideous crime.  The King, pausing a moment, thanked God that their conscience had forced such confession from them, and then remitted the sentence of confiscation only.  They were executed before the setting of that sun which had witnessed their crime, and the next day, that is, yesterday evening, the three bodies, united once more by fate, were found floating about two leagues from Saint Germain, under the willows at the edge of the river near Poisay.

Orders were instantly given for their separate interment.  The youngest was brought back to Saint Germain, where the King wished him to have a funeral befitting his innocence and untimely fate.  All the military attended it.

Forgive me, madams, for all these lengthy details; we have all been so much upset by this dreadful occurrence, and can talk of nothing else,—­in fact, it will furnish matter for talk for a long while yet.

I sincerely hope that by this time Madame de Mortsmart has completely recovered.  I agree with his Majesty that, in doctoring, you have not had much experience; still, friendship acts betimes as a most potent talisman, and the heart of the Abbess is of those that in absence pines, but which in the presence of some loved one revives.