hy should we be
content with less than a royal duke? For you are worth more to us just
now than any prince we have; at least so says the Grande Marquise. Is
your mind quite firm to refuse?' he added, nodding his head in a bored
sort of way.

"'Entirely,' said I. 'I will not part with those letters.'

"'But think once again,' he urged; 'the gain of territory to Virginia,
the peace between our countries!'

"'Folly!' returned I. 'I know well you overstate the case. You turn
a small intrigue into a game of nations. Yours is a schoolboy's tale,
Monsieur Doltaire.'

"'You are something of an ass,' he mused, and took a pinch of snuff.

"'And you--you have no name,' retorted I.

"I did not know, when I spoke, how this might strike home in two ways or
I should not have said it. I had not meant, of course, that he was King
Louis's illegitimate son.

"'There is some truth in that,' he replied patiently, though a red spot
flamed high on his cheeks. 'But some men need no christening for their
distinction, and others win their names with proper weapons. I am not
here to quarrel with you. I am acting in a large affair, not in a small
intrigue; a century of fate may hang on this. Come with me,' he added.
'You doubt my power, maybe.'

"He opened the door of the cell, and I followed him out, past the
storehouse and the officers' apartments, to the drawbridge. Standing in
the shadow by the gate, he took keys from his pocket. 'Here,' said he,
'are what will set you free. This fort is all mine: I act for France.
Will you care to free yourself? You shall have escort to your own
people. You see I am most serious,' he added, laughing lightly. 'It is
not my way to sweat or worry. You and I hold war and peace in our hands.
Which shall it be? In this trouble France or England will be mangled.
It tires one to think of it when life can be so easy. Now, for the last
time,' he urged, holding out the keys. 'Your word of honour that the
letters shall be mine--eh?'

"'Never,' I concluded. 'England and France are in greater hands than
yours or mine. The God of battles still stands beside the balances.'

"He shrugged a shoulder. 'Oh well,' said he, 'that ends it. It will be
interesting to watch the way of the God of battles. Meanwhile you travel
to Quebec. Remember that however free you may appear you will have
watchers, that when you seem safe you will be in most danger, that in
the end we will have those letters or your life; that meanwhile