the downfall of some one, eh?"

And he paused.

"Now in that case, we are out with God, and in with the Devil, eh?"

"Secundo, as they say at the Sorbonne; it's no worse when one is damned,
to be so for much than for little, eh?"

"Ergo, it is indifferent whether a thousand or one be killed. I defy you
to answer that."

"Nothing could be better argued, Doctor-dagger," said Fontrailles, half-
laughing, "I see you will be a good travelling-companion. You shall go
with me to Spain if you like."

"I know you are going to take the treaty there," answered Jacques; "and I
will guide you through the Pyrenees by roads unknown to man. But I shall
be horribly vexed to go away without having wrung the neck of that old
he-goat, whom we leave behind, like a knight in the midst of a game of
chess. Once more Monsieur," he continued with an air of pious
earnestness, "if you have any religion in you, refuse no longer;
recollect the words of our theological fathers, Hurtado de Mendoza and
Sanchez, who have proved that a man may secretly kill his enemies, since
by this means he avoids two sins--that of exposing his life, and that of
fighting a duel. It is in accordance with this grand consolatory
principle that I have always acted."

"Go, go!" said Cinq-Mars, in a voice thick with rage; "I have other
things to think of."