arquebuse in his
hand, waited till the enemy reappeared at the window.

He did not wait long. De Mouy came forward holding before him two
pistols of such respectable length that La Huriere, who was already
aiming, suddenly reflected that the Huguenot's bullets had no farther to
fly in reaching the street from the balcony than his had in reaching
the balcony.

"Assuredly," said he to himself, "I may kill this gentleman, but
likewise this gentleman may kill me in the same way."

Now as Maitre La Huriere, an innkeeper by profession, was only
accidentally a soldier, this reflection determined him to retreat and
seek shelter in the corner of the Rue de Braque, far enough away to
cause him some difficulty in finding with a certain certainty,
especially at night, the line which a bullet from his arquebuse would
take in reaching De Mouy.

De Mouy cast a glance around him, and advanced cautiously like a man
preparing to fight a duel; but seeing nothing, he exclaimed:

"Why, it appears, my worthy informant, that you have forgotten your
arquebuse at my door! Here I am. What do you want with me?"

"Aha!" said Coconnas to himself; "he is certainly a brave fellow!"

"Well," continued De Mouy, "friends or enemies, whichever you are, do
you not see I am waiting?"

La Huriere kept silence, Maurevel made no reply, and the three Swiss
remained in covert.

Coconnas waited an instant; then, seeing that no one took part in the
conversation begun by La Huriere and continued by De Mouy, he left his
station, and advancing into the middle of the street, took off his hat
and said:

"Sir, we are not here for an assassination, as you seem to suppose, but
for a duel. I am here with one of your enemies, who was desirous of
meeting you to end gallantly an old controversy. Eh, by Heaven! come
forward, Monsieur de Maurevel, instead of turning your back. The
gentleman accepts."

"Maurevel!" cried De Mouy; "Maurevel, the assassin of my father!
Maurevel, the king's assassin! Ah, by Heaven! Yes, I accept."

And taking aim at Maurevel, who was about to knock at the Hotel de Guise
to request a reinforcement, he sent a bullet through his hat.

At the noise of the report and Maurevel's shouts, the guard which had
escorted the Duchesse de Nevers came out, accompanied by three or four
gentlemen, followed by their pages, and approached the house of young De
Mouy's mistress.

A second pistol-shot, fired into the midst of the troop, killed the
sol