"And to gain his ends he would not stop at murdering me? Is it,
indeed, the truth you tell me?"

"I pledge my honour for the truth of it," answered Garnache,
watching him closely. Florimond looked at him a moment. The steady
glance of those blue eyes and the steady tone of that crisp voice
scattered his last doubt.

"The villains!" cried the Marquis. "The fools!" he added. "For me,
Marius had been welcome to Valerie. He might have found in me an
ally to aid him in the urging of his suit. But now - " He raised
his clenched hand and shook it in the air, as if in promise of the
battle he would deliver.

"Good," said Garnache, reassured. "I hear their steps upon the
stairs. They must not find me with you."

A moment later the door opened, and Marius, very bravely arrayed,
entered the room, followed closely by Fortunio. Neither showed much
ill effects of last night's happenings, save for a long dark-brown
scar that ran athwart the captain's cheek, where Garnache's sword
had ploughed it.

They found Florimond seated quietly at table, and as they entered
he rose and came forward with a friendly smile to greet his brother.
His sense of humour was being excited; he was something of an actor,
and the role he had adopted in the comedy to be played gave him a
certain grim satisfaction. He would test for himself the truth of
what Monsieur de Garnache had told him concerning his brother's