Bellecour for the past twelve months, long indeed before the outbreak
of the revolution proper, and at last he had roused them to the pitch
of accompanying him upon his errand of tardy but relentless vengeance.

With a growl the Marquis raised his pistol. But Souvestre saw the
movement, and with a laugh he did the like. Simultaneously there
were two reports, and Bellecour's arm fell shattered to his side.
Souvestre continued to advance, his smoking pistol in one hand and
brandishing a huge sabre with the other. Behind him, howling and
roaring like the beasts of prey they were become, surged the tenantry
of Bellecour to pay the long-standing debt of hate to their seigneur.

"Here," said Des Cadoux, with a grimace, "endeth the chapter of our
lives. I wonder, do they keep rappee in heaven?" He snapped down
the lid of his gold snuffbox - that faithful companion and consoler
of so many years - and cast it viciously at the head of one of the
oncoming peasants. Then tossing back the lace from his wrist he
brought his sword into guard and turned aside a murderous stroke
which an assailant aimed at him.

"Animal," he snapped viciously, as he set to work, "it is the first
time that my chaste blade has been crossed with such dirty steel as
yours. I hope, for the honour of Cadoux, that it may not be quite
the last."

Up, and ever up, swept that murderous tide. The half of those that
had held the stairs lay weltering upon them as if in a last attempt
to barricade with their bodies what they could no longer defend with
their hands. A bare half-score remained standing, and amongst these
that gallant old Cadoux, who had by now accounted for a, half-dozen