“And the rest of it?”

Montcourt grinned and leaned back. “Every day more nobles attend court in Versailles. On the road the forces of police grow every day. Bandits still roam and the fear is still there. But the risk to us is greater than it’s ever been. So I’ve decided on a new plan for us. To offer protection to the excisemen.”

“Here is gratitude for you! I found you discarded and gave you life.”

“As a father to a child you saved me. But look now, Papa.” He wiggled his fingers, showing several expensive rings. “See how I’ve grown.”

“You’ve grown into a bigger idiot than I took you for.”

Montcourt shrugged. “I won’t go back on the roads with a musket. There are too many police.”

“We have friends in the police.”

“Not enough.”

A whore lowered herself to sit on Cassel’s lap but he waved her away. “You bring me money, Montcourt. How you come by it I no longer care. The King’s builders have downed tools. They share our frustrations with the King’s plans.”

“The King will simply find more.”

“The builders fought for him, you fool. Many are soldiers. His army has dissent in its ranks.” Cassel stood and leaned over Montcourt. “Let us see what we might do to encourage it.”

Montcourt picked an opium pipe, considered it, and then put it down. “The King will stop any insurrection with his armies.”

“Puh. If he has any left by then.”

Dawn had not yet broken over the village of Versailles, but Masson was up, searching through the bottles of medicine in the cabinets of his kitchen. The thumping and clinking aroused Claudine, who drew her shawl around her shoulders and tiptoed from bed to find the source of the noise.

Masson, blue bottle in hand, saw his daughter in the doorway. The piteous yet critical expression in her eyes drove a shard of anger into his chest.

“Father,” she said, “you know what laudanum can do, yet you persist.”

Masson rubbed sweat from his forehead. “I need it to keep the ship afloat.”

“It will embrace you and sink you! The King needs his doctor well. Come now. Let’s dress and be ready for the day. We cannot spend our lives waiting for His Majesty to catch cold. Many of his builders are injured. We should tend them while we can.”

Masson sat and put his elbows on the table. “I shall stay here.”

“But, Father –”

Masson’s face twisted. “Get out!”

Claudine stared at Masson but he looked away. She nodded then, more to herself than to him, and went back to her room.

Louis’ mid-day meal of cheeses, eggs, and pastries had been well prepared as always, and presented upon fine blue and white Nevers porcelain, yet Louis had been so preoccupied with Henriette’s news and the issue of the striking builders, he had not enjoyed a single bite.