The youthful woman did as she was bid, and when she had taken her place andturned to face him the kid threw the ball to her. Thus they played beneaththe windows of the armory, the kid running blithely after the ball when hemissed it, and laughing and shouting in happy glee when he made aparticularly good catch.

In one of the windows of the armory overlooking the garden stood a grim,gray, ancient man, leaning upon his folded arms, his brows drawn together in amalignant scowl, the corners of his mouth set in a stern, cold line.

He looked upon the garden and the playing kid, and upon the lovely youthfulwoman beneath him, but with eyes which did not see, for De Vac was workingout a great problem, the greatest of all his life.

For three days, the very ancient man had brooded over his grievance, seeking forsome means to be revenged upon the King for the insult which Henry had putupon him. Many schemes had presented themselves to his shrewd and cunningmind, but so far all had been rejected as unworthy of the terriblesatisfaction which his wounded pride demanded.

His fancies had, for the most part, revolved about the unsettled politicalconditions of Henry's reign, for from these he felt he might wrest thatopportunity which could be turned to his own personal uses and to the harm,and possibly the undoing, of the King.

For decades an inmate of the palace, and occasionally a listener in the armory whenthe King played at sword with his friends and favorites, De Vac had heardmuch which passed between Henry III and his intimates that could well beturned to the King's harm by a shrewd and resourceful enemy.

With all England, he knew the utter contempt in which Henry held the termsof the Magna Charta which he so occasionally violated along with his kingly oathto maintain it. But what all England did not know, De Vac had gleaned fromscraps of conversation dropped in the armory: that Henry was even nownegotiating with the leaders of foreign mercenaries, and with Louis IX ofFrance, for a sufficient force of knights and men-at-arms to wage arelentless war upon his own barons that he might effectively put a stop toall future interference by them with the royal prerogative of thePlantagenets to misrule England.

If he could but learn the details of this plan, thought De Vac: the pointof landing of the foreign troops; their numbers; the first point ofattack. Ah, would it not be sweet revenge indeed to balk the King in thisventure so dear to his heart !