two gentlemen softly behind us to the Louvre."

CHAPTER XVII.

MAITRE AMBROISE PARE'S CONFRERE.

The tumbril in which Coconnas and La Mole were laid started back toward
Paris, following in the shadow the guiding group. It stopped at the
Louvre, and the driver was amply rewarded. The wounded men were carried
to the Duc d'Alencon's quarters, and Maitre Ambroise Pare was sent for.

When he arrived, neither of the two men had recovered consciousness.

La Mole was the least hurt of the two. The sword had struck him below
the right armpit, but without touching any vital parts. Coconnas was run
through the lungs, and the air that escaped from his wound made the
flame of a candle waver.

Ambroise Pare would not answer for Coconnas.

Madame de Nevers was in despair. Relying on Coconnas's strength,
courage, and skill, she had prevented Marguerite from interfering with
the duel. She would have had Coconnas taken to the Hotel de Guise and
gladly bestowed on him a second time the care which she had already
lavished on his comfort, but her husband was likely to arrive from Rome
at any moment and find fault with the introduction of a strange man in
the domestic establishment.

To hide the cause of the wounds, Marguerite had had the two young men
brought to her brother's rooms, where one of them, to be sure, had
already been installed, by saying that they were two gentlemen who had
been thrown from their horses during the excursion, but the truth was
divulged by the captain, who, having witnessed the duel, could not help
expressing his admiration, and it was soon known at court that two new
_raffines_[6] had burst into sudden fame. Attended by the same surgeon,
who divided his attentions between them, the two wounded men passed
through the different phases of convalescence arising from the greater
or less severity of their wounds. La Mole, who was less severely wounded
of the two, was the first to recover consciousness. A terrible fever had
taken possession of Coconnas and his return to life was attended by all
the symptoms of the most horrible delirium.

Though La Mole was confined in the same room with Coconnas, he had not,
when he came to himself, seen his companion, or if he saw him, he
betrayed no sign that he saw him. Coconnas, on the contrary, as soon as
he opened his eyes, fastened them on La Mole with an expression which
proved that the blood he had lost had not modified the passions of his
fiery temperament.