how came you to know of him? come now, out with it! you are hiding something! sir, said the fool, i have made sport for kings of the louvre and kings of bedlam; for henry of yesterday, who is henry of valois; for henry of today, who is henry of guise; and for henry of tomorrow, who is but the professor of the sorbonne was a man of sense, and he knew that the place for discussing such things was by no means on the orleans highway.so he commanded jeanauxchoux to trouble no more about royal henries past, present, and especially henries to come, but to be off and find him a cloak.then cabbage jock, in no haste, simply glanced at the alehouse doors as they came near bourglareine, and at last with a wave of his hand signalled his three companions to ride on.when he overtook them an hour afterwards, bourglareine was hidden far behind among the wayside trees.jeanauxchoux saluted, and asked in a quiet manservants voice if the honourable doctor would be pleased to put on his coat.then, you gallows rascal, said the professor of the sorbonne, it was true, after all.you have stolen the cloak, and you would have me, a respectable citizen, reset the theft! jeanauxchoux held up his hand.sir, he said, i have often heard from my masters that it is the special function of a cook to make ready the soup, and of the sorbonne to resolve cases of conscience? well, then, he went on, as doctor anatole did not answer, here is one.in an alehouse were certain sons of belial, whose very jesting was inconvenient, and their words not once to be named among us, as sayeth the apostle.well, there came a certain braggart out of this foul poisonbox.he had seen an honest man pass by, fleeing from paris, with all his goods laden on a mule.now this knave would have taken all and slain the honest merchant as well, had i not passed by, and so belaboured him that he will not rise from his bed for a fortnight.then the good merchant (he was a jew from the quartier saint jacques) bade me choose what i would for my recompense.and so from his packages i chose this fine cloak, fit for the provost of the merchants himself, and with that he thanked me and went his way.and what, cried the abbé john, hugely interested, became of that rascals companions? it is strange that, hearing the racket, they did not hive out to his assistance! yesterday they hamstrung a man for lessan archer of the kings! it would indeed have been somewhat strange, agreed cabbage jock, if, before our little interview, i had not taken the liberty of locking both the outer and inner doors of the inn.but they have nothing to complain about, these good lads.they have a kindly hostess and a full cellar.een let them be content! and with no more words he took out of his pouch two keys, one large and rusty, the other small and glittering.these he tossed carefully, one after the other, into the orge.they were just upon the famous bridge across which the postillion of longjumeau so often took his way.the keys flashed a moment on the water as the drops rose and fell.then cabbage jock turned on his companions and smiled his broad simpletons smile as he waved his hand in the direction of the inn.let there be peace, he said solemnlypeace between jew and gentile.will it please you to put on your coat now, sir professor? and as the air bit shrewdly, it pleased the professor well enough.chapter vii.the great name of guise claire had indeed seen little of her father.all her life she had been accustomed to be left in the charge of strangers while francis agnew went about his business of holeandcorner diplomacy.claire was therefore no whit astonished to find herself with two men, almost strangers to her, alone upon the crowded road to orleans.she mourned sincerely for her father, but after all she was hardly more than a child, and for years she had seen little of francis agnew.he had, it is true, always managed to take care of her, always in his way loved her.but it was most often from a distance, and as yet she did not realise the difference.she might therefore be thought more cheerful than most maids of a quieter day in the expression of her grief.then, indeed, was a mans life on his lip, and girls of twenty had often seen more killing than modern generals of threescore and ten.it was not that claire felt less, but that an adventurous present so filled her life with things to do, that she had no time for thought.also, was there not jeanauxchoux, otherwise cabbage jock, but with an excellent right to the name of john stirling, armiger, jester to three kings, and licentiate in theology in the reformed (and only true) church of geneva? jeanauxchoux was a fatalist and a calvinist.things which were ordained to happen would happen, and if any insulted his masters daughter, it was obviously ordained that he, jeanauxchoux, should set a dagger between the shoulderblades of the insulter.this in itself was no slight protection.for the fools sinews were reputed so strong that he could take two vigorous men of the kings guard, pin them with his arms like trussed fowls, and, if so it pleased him, knock their heads together.so through the press the four made their way into orleans, where they found the bearing of the people again changed, and that for the worse.it behoves your learned and professional shoulders to be decorated once more with the green cloth and fur trimmings of the sorbonne, said jeanauxchoux.i can smell a leaguer a mile off, and this city is full of them.our scots guards have turned off on the road to blois.there are too many bishops and clergy here for honest men.besides which, the king has a château at blois.we had better change my saddlecloththough twill be to my disadvantageinasmuch as an archers tabard, all gold embroidering, makes noways so easy sitting as fox fur and angoulême green.so it chanced that when they rode up to the low door of the hostelry of the golden lark, in the marketplace of orleans, the professor of eloquence was again clad in his official attire, and led the way as became a doctor of the sorbonne in a leaguer town.it was a pretty pinkandwhite woman who welcomed them with many courtesies and smiles to the golden larkthat is, so far as the men were concerned, while preserving a severe and doubtful demeanour towards the niece of the learned professor of the sorbonne.madame gillifleur loved single men, unaccompanied men, at her hostelry.she found that thus there was much less careful examination of accounts when it came to the hour of departure.still, all the same, it was a great thing to have in her house so learned a man, and in an hour, as was the custom of the town, she had sent his name and style to the bishops palace