tch for the two precisians: but honesty of
purpose has a weight of its own that slowly makes itself felt. "That is
not all," Baudichon repeated after a glance at his neighbour and ally
Petitot, "I want to know----"

"One moment, M. Baudichon, if you please," Fabri said, cutting him
short, amid a partial titter; the phrase "I want to know" was so often
on the councillor's lips that it had become ridiculous. "One moment; as
you say, that is not all. The writer proceeds to warn us that the Grand
Duke's lieutenant, M. d'Albigny, has taken a house on the Italian side
of the frontier, and is there constructing a huge petard on wheels which
is to be dragged up to the gate----"

"With the ladders and rafts?"

"They seem to belong to another scheme," Fabri said, as he turned back
and conned the letter afresh.

"With M. d'Albigny at the bottom of both?"

"Yes."

"Well, if he be not more successful with this," Blondel answered
contemptuously, "than he was with the attempt to mine the Arsenal--which
ended in supplying us with two or three casks of powder--I think Captain
Blandano and I may deal with him."

A murmur of assent approved the boast; but it did not proceed from all.
There were men at the table who had children, who had wives, who had
daughters, whose faces were grave. Just thirty years had passed over the
world since the horrors of the massacre of St. Bartholomew--to be
speedily followed by the sack of Antwerp--had paled the cheek of Europe.
Just thirty years were to elapse and the sack of Magdeburg was to prove
a match and more than a match for both in horror and cruelty. That the
Papists, if they entered, would deal more gently with Geneva, the head
and front of offence, or extend to the Mother of Heretics mercy which
they had refused to her children, these men did not believe. The
presence of an enemy ever lurking within a league of their gates, ever
threatening them by night and by day, had shaken their nerves. They
feared everything, they feared always. In fitful sleep, in the small
hours, they heard their doors smashed in; their dreams were disturbed by
cries and shrieks, by the din of bells, and the clash of weapons.

To these men Blondel seemed over confident. But no one took on himself
to gainsay him in his particular province, the superintendence of the
guard; and though Baudichon sighed and Petitot shook his head, the word
was left with him. "Is that all, Messer Fabri?" he asked.

"Yes, if we lay it