him before, I signed to him to
proceed.

'You think that I am in your power?' he said, smiling.

'I think,' I retorted swiftly, 'that, escaping me now, you will have at
your heels henceforth a worse enemy than even your own sins.'

'Just so,' he answered, nodding. 'Well, I am going to show you that
the reverse is the case; and that you are as completely in my hands, to
spare or to break, as this straw. In the first place, you are here in
Blois, a Huguenot!'

'Chut!' I exclaimed contemptuously, affecting a confidence I was far
from feeling. 'A little while back that might have availed you. But we
are in Blois, not Paris. It is not far to the Loire, and you have to
deal with a man now, not with a woman. It is you who have cause to
tremble, not I.'

'You think to be protected,' he answered with a sour smile, 'even on
this side of the Loire, I see. But one word to the Pope's Legate, or to
the Duke of Nevers, and you would see the inside of a dungeon, if not
worse. For the king--'

'King or no king!' I answered, interrupting him with more assurance than
I felt, seeing that I remembered only too well Henry's remark that Rosny
must not look to him for protection, 'I fear you not a whit! And that
reminds me. I have heard you talk treason--rank, black treason, priest,
as ever sent man to rope, and I will give you up. By heaven I will!' I
cried, my rage increasing, as I discerned, more and more clearly, the
dangerous hold he had over me. 'You have threatened me! One word, and I
will send you to the gallows!'

'Sh!' he answered, indicating M. Francois by, a gesture of the hand.
'For your own sake, not mine. This is fine talking, but you have not
yet heard all I know. Would you like to hear how you have spent the last
month? Two days after Christmas, M. de Marsac, you left Chize with a
young lady--I can give you her name, if you please. Four days afterwards
you reached Blois, and took her to your mother's lodging. Next morning
she left you for M. de Bruhl. Two days later you tracked her to a house
in the Ruelle d'Arcy, and freed her, but lost her in the moment of
victory. Then you stayed in Blois until your mother's death, going a day
or two later to M. de Rosny's house by Mantes, where mademoiselle still
is. Yesterday you arrived in Blois with M. de Rosny; you went to his
lodging; you--'

'Proceed, I muttered, leaning forward. Under cover of my cloak I drew my
dagger half-way from its sheath. 'Proceed, sir, I pray,' I re