truth. When all is told, if you do not agree he deserved the lashing we
planned to--"

"I'll hear no more!"

"You will bitterly repent it, madam. For your own sake I entreat--"

"And I also," broke in M. Beaucaire. "Permit me, mademoiselle; let him
speak."

"Then let him be brief," said Lady Mary, "for I am earnest to be quit of
him. His explanation or an attack on my friend and on my carriage should
be made to my brother."

"Alas that he was not here," said the Duke, "to aid me! Madam, was your
carriage threatened? I have endeavored only to expunge a debt I owed to
Bath and to avenge an insult offered to yourself through--"

"Sir, sir, my patience will bear little more!"

"A thousan' apology," said M. Beaucaire. "You will listen, I only beg,
Lady Mary?"

She made an angry gesture of assent.

"Madam, I will be brief as I may. Two months ago there came to Bath a
French gambler calling himself Beaucaire, a desperate fellow with the
cards or dice, and all the men of fashion went to play at his lodging,
where he won considerable sums. He was small, wore a black wig and
mustachio. He had the insolence to show himself everywhere until the