"You understand, I am sure?"

The Syndic moved in his chair, but did not speak, and Basterga took up
his cap with a sigh. "I would I had brought you better news, Messer
Blondel," he said, as he rose and turned to go. "But _Cor ne edito!_ I
am the happier for speaking, though I have done no good!" And with a
gesture of farewell, not without its dignity, he bowed, opened the door,
and went out, leaving the Syndic to his reflections.

CHAPTER XI.

BY THIS OR THAT.

Long after Basterga, with an exultant smile and the words "I have limed
him!" on his lips, had passed into the Bourg du Four and gone to his
lodging, the Syndic sat frowning in his chair. From time to time a sigh
deep and heart-rending, a sigh that must have melted even Petitot, even
Baudichon, swelled his breast; and more than once he raised his eyes to
his painted effigy over the mantel, and cast on it a look that claimed
the pity of men and Heaven.

Nevertheless with each sigh and glance, though sigh and glance lost no
whit of their fervour, it might have been observed that his face grew
brighter; and that little by little, as he reflected on what had passed,
he sat more firmly and strongly in his chair.

Not that he purposed buying his life at the price which Basterga had put
on it. Never! But when a ship is on the lee-shore it is pleasant to know
that if one anchor fails to hold there is a second, albeit a borrowed
one. The knowledge steadies the nerves and enables the mind to deal more
firmly with the crisis. Or--to put the image in a shape nearer to the
fact--though the power to escape by a shameful surrender may sap the
courage of the garrison, it may also enable it to array its defences
without panic. The Syndic, for the present at least, entertained no
thought of saving himself by a shameful compliance; it was indeed
because the compliance was so shameful, and the impossibility of
stooping to it so complete, that he sighed thus deeply, and raised eyes
so piteous to his own portrait. He who stood almost in the position of
Pater Patriae to Geneva, to betray Geneva! He the father of his country
to betray his country! Perish the thought! But, alas, he too must
perish, unless he could hit on some other way of winning the _remedium_.

Still, it is not to be gainsaid that the Syndic went about the search
for this other way in a more cheerful spirit; and revolved this plan and
that plan in a mind more at ease. The ominous shadow of the night, t