Taranne was not to be put down. "Never more serious. Every one who
enters is scrutinized most carefully."
"That is easy to explain," said Chavernay; "it is just to make sure that
they really are invited."
Taranne declined to admit this interpretation of his mystery: "Not so,
for nobody is allowed on any pretext to leave the gardens."
Oriol flushed with a sudden wave of intelligence: "Perhaps some plot
against his majesty."
"Heaven knows," Navailles commented.
Æsop interrupted the discussion with a dry laugh, dimly suggestive of the
cackle of a jackdaw. "I know, gentlemen."