While the Maréchal, even in the dungeon of the Bastile, is awing
her oppressors into silence, bands of murderers are seeking Concini
through the streets of Paris. As he issues from the house of the
Jew which contains Isabella, he hears through the obscurity of the
tempestuous night the cries of the populace, but he thinks they are
but the indications of some passing tumult. He rests for a moment
against a pillar on the pavement, but recoils again, as from a
serpent, for he perceives it is the stone on which Ravaillac had
planted his foot when he assassinated Henry, and in that murder it is
darkly insinuated he had a share. Through the darkness of the Rue de
la Ferronnerie, Michael Borgia is seen advancing, conducting the two
children of his rival. He has promised to the Maréchale to save them
from the dangers of the night, and has brought them in safety to his
own threshold. But his promise of safety extended not to Concini. The
wild ferocity of the following scene has many parallels in the actual
duels of the time, as delineated in Froissart and Brantome.

_Borgia (with the children.)_--Poor children! come in; you will be
safer here than in the houses to which they have pursued us.

_The Boy_.--Ah! there is a man standing up.

_Borgia (turning the lantern which the child holds towards
Concini.)_--Concini!

_Concini_.--Borgia! (_Each raises his dagger, and seizes with the left
arm the right of his enemy. They remain motionless, and gazing at each
other. The children escape into the street and disappear_.)

_Concini_.--Let go my arm, and I will liberate yours.