ou now would be to murder you, Marquis," I said coolly. "Send
your friends to me to appoint the time."

"Soit!" he cried, his eyes blazing with a hate unspeakable. "At eight
to-morrow morning I shall await you on the green behind the castle of
Blois."

"At eight o'clock I shall be there," I answered. "And now, gentlemen, if
you will unhand me, I will return to my apartments."

They let me go, but with many a growl and angry look, for in their eyes
I was no more than a coarse aggressor, whilst their sympathy was all for
St. Auban.

CHAPTER X. THE CONSCIENCE OF MALPERTUIS

And so back to my room I went, my task accomplished, and so pleased was
I with what had passed that as I drew on my boots--preparing to set out
to Canaples--I laughed softly to myself.

St. Auban I would dispose of in the morning. As for the other members
of the cabal, I deemed neither Vilmorin nor Malpertuis sufficiently
formidable to inspire uneasiness. St. Auban gone, they too would vanish.
There remained then Eugene de Canaples. Him, however, methought no great
evil was to be feared from. In Paris he might be as loud-voiced as he
pleased, but in his father's chateau--from what I had learned--'t was
unlikely he would so much as show himself. Moreover, he was wounded, and
before he had sufficiently recovered to offer interference it was
more than probable that Andrea would have married one or the other of
Mesdemoiselles de Canaples--though I had a shrewd suspicion that it
would be the wrong one, and there again I feared trouble.

As I stood up, booted and ready to descend, there came a gentle tap
at my door, and, in answer to my "Enter," there stood before me a very
dainty and foppish figure. I stared hard at the effeminate face and the
long fair locks of my visitor, thinking that I had become the dupe of my
eyes.

"M. de Vilmorin!" I murmured in astonishment, as he came forward, having
closed the door. "You here?"

In answer, he bowed and greeted me with cold ceremoniousness.

"I have been in Blois since yesterday, Monsieur."

"In truth I might have guessed it, Vicomte. Your visit flatters me,
for, of course, I take it, you are come to pay me your respects," I said
ironically. "A glass of wine, Vicomte?"

"A thousand thanks, Monsieur--no," he answered coldly in his mincing
tones. "It is concerning your affair with M. le Marquis de St. Auban
that I am come." And drawing forth a dainty kerchief, which filled the
room with the sce