fresh insult to add to the others," said Dagobert, coolly, as he
threw the letter into the fire.

"The letter is infamous--but it speaks the truth," replied the marshal.
Dagobert looked at him in amazement.

"And can you tell who brought me this infamous letter" continued the
marshal. "One would think the devil had a hand in it--for it was your
dog!"

"Spoil-sport?" said Dagobert, in the utmost surprise.

"Yes," answered the marshal, bitterly; "it is no doubt a joke of your
invention."

"I have no heart for joking, general," answered Dagobert, more and more
saddened by the irritable state of the marshal; "I cannot explain how it
happened. Spoil-sport is a good carrier, and no doubt found the letter in
the house--"

"And who can have left it there? Am I surrounded by traitors? Do you keep
no watch? You, in whom I have every confidence?"

"Listen to me, general--"

But the marshal proceeded, without waiting to hear him. "What! I have
made war for five-and-twenty years, I have battled with armies, I have
struggled victoriously through the evil times of exile and proscription,
I have withstood blows from maces of iron--and now I am to be killed with
pins! Pursued into my own house, harassed with impunity, worn out,
tortured every minute, to gratify some unknown, miserable hate!--When I
say unknown, I am wrong--it is d'Aigrigny, the renegade, who is at the
bottom of all this, I am sure. I have in the world but one enemy, and he
is the man. I must finish with him, for I am weary of this--it is too
much."

"But, general, remember he is a priest--"

"What do I care for that? Have I not seen him handle the sword? I will
yet make a soldier's blood rise to the forehead of the traitor!"

"But, general--"

"I tell you, that I must be avenged on some one," cried the marshal, with
an accent of the most violent exasperation; "I tell you, that I mast find
a living representative of these cowardly plots, that I may at once make
an end of him!--They press upon me from all sides; they make my life a
hell--you know it--and you do nothing to save me from these tortures,
which are killing me as by a slow fire. Can I have no one in whom to
trust?"

"General, I can't let you say that," replied Dagobert, in a calm, but
firm voice.

"And why not?"

"General, I can't let you say that you have no one to trust to. You might
end perhaps in believing it, and then it would be even worse for
yourself, than for those who well know th