and fluttered to the ground. The Vidame picked it up,
and said again:
"Your sword, monsieur!" And then, with a bitter scorn in his voice: "A
traitor's game is a losing game, Monsieur le Vicomte, and the King
knows you at last."
What the words meant I was to find out later, but they took all heart
from De Ganache. He put his hand to his head as one dazed, and then,
dropping it again, unbuckled his sword, and handed it to the Vidame
without a word. There was a sharp whistle. The horses came up. De
Ganache, who seemed utterly broken, was mounted on the spare horse.
The troopers surrounded him, and then came the quick order:
"The Chatelet!" And they were gone.
"_Harnibleu_!" exclaimed the hostess, "that was not how Monsieur de
Mailly allowed himself to be taken. He swore like the Constable, and
fought right across the road, up to this very door, and might have
escaped had he not tripped up. As for that hare there--pouf!" And
with an expressive shrug of her shoulders and a snap of her fingers she
went back to her spit.
I sat still, wondering, but with a great relief in my heart. There was
a little talk, as will be when things of this kind occur, and then
matters settled down. A few more customers came in. The twilight
began to fall, and then, all at once, I saw two figures at the gate.
They were mademoiselle and De Lorgnac. In a moment I had joined them,
and together we went on towards the river face.
At the corner of the Rue St. Thomas, De Lorgnac bade us farewell, but
as he left us I took the opportunity to whisper to him the news of De
Ganache's arrest.
"Then put wings to your business," he said, and pressing my hand went
off, and mademoiselle and I were alone. Silently she took the arm I
offered, and we hastened towards the river.
It was the fall of the evening, and the moon, almost in its full, had
already arisen, dividing the sky with the last lights of sunset. We
had turned to the left on reaching the river, our faces towards the
Chatelet, whose square grey walls frowned over the Pont au Change.
Here and there the cloud edges still flamed in gold, that slowly faded
to a fleecy silver-white before the moonlight. To our left was the
long row of gabled houses, some of them seven storeys or more in
height, that stretched, a jagged outline of pointed roofs and
overhanging turrets, to the Rue St. Denis, there to be split up in the
labyrinth of streets between St. Denis, St. Martin, and the
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