I thought I heard, as I stopped speaking, a subdued muttering,
and fancied I caught the words, "PAPEGOT! Down with the Guises!"
But the spokesman's only answer aloud was "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he repeated, flapping his arms in defiance.
"Here is a cock of a fine hackle!" And so on, and so forth,
while he turned grinning to his companions, looking for their
applause.

I was itching to chastise him, and yet hesitating, lest the thing
should have its serious side, when a new actor appeared. "Shame,
you brutes!" cried a shrill voice above us in the clouds it
seemed. I looked up, and saw two girls, coarse and handsome,
standing at a window over the stable, a light between them. "For
shame! Don't you see that they are mere children? Let them be,"
cried one.

The men laughed louder than ever; and for me, I could not stand
by and be called a child. "Come here," I said, beckoning to the
man in the doorway. "Come here, you rascal, and I will give you
the thrashing you deserve for speaking to a gentleman!"

He lounged forward, a heavy fellow, taller than myself and six
inches wider at the shoulders. My heart failed me a little as I
measured him. But the thing had to be done. If I was slight, I
was wiry as a hound, and in the excitement had forgotten my
fatigue. I snatched from Marie a loaded riding-whip he carried,
and stepped forward.

"Have a care, little man!" cried the girl gaily--yet half in