the right to confer titles, and I rejoice
exceedingly, monseigneur, that he has given you that of governor of
Languedoc."

"When you are speaking of the king, why do you not say 'His Majesty'?"
said M. de Baville. "Upon my soul, the king is too good to treat thus
with a rebel."

The blood rushed to Cavalier's head, his face flamed, and after a
moment's pause, fixing his eye boldly upon M. de Baville, and speaking
in a voice which was now as firm as it had been tremulous a moment
before, he said, "If you have only brought me here, sir, to speak to
me in such a manner, you might better have left me in my mountains, and
come there yourself to take a lesson in hospitality. If I am a rebel, it
is not I who am answerable, for it was the tyranny and cruelty of M. de
Baville which forced us to have recourse to arms; and if history takes
exception to anything connected with the great monarch for whose pardon
I sue to-day, it will be, I hope, not that he had foes like me, but
friends like him."

M. de Baville grew pale with anger; for whether Cavalier knew to whom he
was speaking or not, his words had the effect of a violent blow full in
his face; but before he could reply M. de Villars interposed.

"Your business is only with me, sir," he said; "attend to me alone, I
beg: I speak in the name of the king; and the king, of his clemency,
wishes to spare his subjects by treating them with tenderness."

Cavalier opened his mouth to reply, but the intendant cut him short.

"I should hope that that suffices," he said contemptuously: "as pardon
is more than you could have hoped for, I suppose you are not going to
insist on the other conditions you laid down?"

"But it is precisely those other conditions," said Cavalier, addressing
himself to M. de Villars, and not seeming to see that anyone else was
present, "for which we have fought. If I were alone, sir, I should give
myself up, bound hand and foot, with entire confidence in your good
faith, demanding no assurances and exacting no conditions; but I stand
here to defend the interests of my brethren and friends who trust me;
and what is more, things have gone so far that we must either die weapon
in hand, or obtain our rights."

The intendant was about to speak, but the marechal stopped him with such
an imperative gesture that he stepped back as if to show that he washed
his hands of the whole matter.

"What are those rights? Are they those which M. Lalande has transmitted
to