uiere.

"Here is the half of the gold piece."

"And here the other," said Dubois.

They tried the two, which fitted exactly.

"And now," continued Gaston, "the papers;" and he drew from his pocket
the strangely folded paper, on which was written the name of La
Jonquiere.

Dubois took from his pocket a similar paper, bearing Gaston's name: they
were precisely alike.

"Now," said Gaston, "the pocket-book."

They found that their new pocket-books were precisely similar, and both,
though new, contained an almanac for the year 1700, nineteen years
previous.

"And now, monsieur," said Gaston.

"Now we will talk of business: is not that your meaning, chevalier?"

"Exactly; are we safe?"

"As though in a desert."

They seated themselves by a table, on which were a bottle of sherry and
two glasses.

Dubois filled one, and was about to fill the other, when Gaston stopped
him.

"Peste!" thought Dubois, "he is slender and sober, bad signs; Caesar
mistrusted thin people who did not drink, and Brutus and Cassius were
such."

"Captain," said Gaston, after a short silence, "when we undertake, as
now, an affair in which we risk our heads, I think we should know each
other, so that the past may vouch for the future. Montlouis, Talhouet,
De Couedic, and Pontcalec have told you my name and condition. I was
brought up by a brother, who had reasons for personal hatred to the
regent. This hatred I have imbibed; therefore, three years ago, when the
league was formed among the nobility in Bretagne, I entered the
conspiracy; now I have been chosen to come to Paris to receive the
instructions of Baron de Valef, who has arrived from Spain, to transmit
them to the Duc d'Olivares, his Catholic Majesty's agent in Paris, and
to assure myself of his assent."

"And what is Captain la Jonquiere to do in all this?" asked Dubois, as
though he were doubting the chevalier's identity.

"To present me to the Duc d'Olivares. I arrived two hours ago; since
then I have seen M. de Valef, and now I come to you. Now you know my
history."

Dubois listened, and, when Gaston had finished--"As to me, chevalier,"
said he, throwing himself back indolently in his chair, "I must own my
history is somewhat longer and more adventurous; however, if you wish to
hear it, I obey."

"I think it necessary, in our position, to know each other," said
Gaston.

"Well," said Dubois, "as you know, I am called Captain la Jonquiere; my
father was, like myself,