I treasured up every scrap of knowledge I
could get. I listened to all that was said in the Prince's palace, and I
was glad when His Highness let me read aloud private papers to him. From
these I learned the secrets of the great family. The Prince was seldom
gentle with me--sometimes almost brutal, yet he would scarcely let me out
of his sight. I had little intercourse then with the other servants, and
less still when I was old enough to become a valet; and a valet I was to
the Prince for twelve years."
The Cure's hand clasped the arm of his chair nervously. His lips moved,
but he said nothing aloud, and he glanced quickly towards Madame Chalice,
who sat moveless, her face flushed, her look fixed on Valmond. So, he
was the mere impostor after all--a valet! Fate had won the toss-up; not
faith, or friendship, or any good thing.
"All these years," Valmond continued presently, his voice growing weaker,
"I fed on such food as is not often within the reach of valets. I knew
as much of the Bonapartes, of Napoleonic history, as the Prince himself,
so much so, that he often asked me of some date or fact of which he was
not sure.
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