"This is a singular piece of news, if it is to be credited," Isaac said. "For years it has been assumed, by many at Court, that de Gex—who spends much time in London—was an agent of the King of France. And many rumors have reached my ears that he was entangled, somehow, with Jack the Coiner. I had assumed that de Gex and Shaftoe operated hand-in-glove." He nodded at the place where Arlanc had just been sitting. "But this talk of a warning that went unheeded hints at a conflict of fourteen years’ standing between the two of them."