So, im-pos-si-ble! There must be to fight!"
"Do you know, count, the cause of my having given Count Hamilton the
lie?" I asked.
"I did not inquire," he answered smilingly. "To me it was to carry the
message."
"George Hamilton is your friend, is he not?" I asked.
"Yes, but far more, he is the friend of my king, and will make entreaty
with my monarch for my return to France," answered De Grammont.
"It was because of Count Hamilton's insulting reference to his brother
that I used the ugly word," I returned.
"A-ah, that is different!" Then recovering himself quickly: "But I
undertook the mission. It is to finish. Monsieur George Hamilton? My
friend? My king's friend? If it had been known to me! But you have the
message of 'Sieur le Comte."
After a short silence he said, "When Monsieur le Comte Hamilton returns,
I shall ask him to relieve me of this duty."
As De Grammont was leaving my closet, he paused at the door, and, after a
moment's hesitancy, whispered:--
"You may expect a letter from France soon. It will come from M. l'Abbe du
Boise, who I hope will come soon to London on the business of my king.
You know him not--M. l'Abbe?" The eyebrows lifted questioningly. "No? You
soon will know him, yet you will not know him. You and perhaps a lady may
help him in his mission. I, too, shall help him, but I, too, know him
not. Yet I know him. If he succeed in his mission, he will be rich, he
will be powerful.
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