"This is too much impudence! blood and murder!" thundered Lord Mortimer, interrupting the chevalier and springing toward him with blazing eyes and clinched fists, while Dudley upheld Lord Jocelyn. The apostrophe of Mortimer had an astounding effect on the spectators and the actors in this scene. The English gentlemen turned quickly toward Mortimer. De Chemerant and the officers looked at each other with astonishment, as yet comprehending none of his words. "Zounds! here we are," thought Croustillac; "only to see this tipsy brute; I should smell the Mortimer a league off." The nobleman stepped into the empty space that the gentlemen had left between the Gascon and themselves, in recoiling; he planted himself before him, his arms crossed, his eyes flashing, looking him straight in the face, exclaiming in a voice trembling with rage: "Ah! you are James of Monmouth--you!--it is to me--Mortimer--that you say that?" Croustillac was sublime in his impudence and coolness; he answered Mortimer with an accent of melancholy reproach: "Exile and adversity must indeed have changed me much if my best friend no longer recognizes me!" Then, half-turning toward De Chemerant, the chevalier added in a low tone: "You see, it is as I told you; the emotion has been too violent; his poor head is completely upset. Alas, this unhappy man does not know me!" Croustillac expressed himself so naturally and with so much assurance, that De Chemerant still hesitated to believe himself the dupe of so enormous an imposition; he did not long retain any doubts on this subject. Lord Dudley and Lord Rothsay joined Mortimer and the other gentlemen in showering upon the unfortunate Gascon the most furious apostrophes and insults. "This miserable vagabond dares to call himself James of Monmouth!" "The infamous impostor!" "The scoundrel must have murdered him in order to pass himself off for him!" "He is an emissary of William!" "That beggar, James, our duke!" "What audacity!" "To dare to tell such a lie!" "He ought to have his tongue torn out!" "To deceive us so impudently--we who had never seen the duke!" "This cries for vengeance!" "Since he takes his name he must know where he is!" "Yes, he shall answer for our duke!" "We will throw him into the sea if he does not give our James back to us!" "We will tear out his nails to make him speak!" "To play thus with what is most sacred!" "How could De Chemerant have fallen into a trap so gross!" "This miserable wretch has deceived me most outrageously, gentlemen!" cried De Chemerant, striving in vain to make himself heard. "Come, then; explain yourself, sir." "He shall pay dearly for his audacity, gentlemen." "First, chain up this traitor." "He abused my confidence by the most execrable lies. Gentlemen, any one would have been deceived as much as I was." "One cannot mock thus the faith of brave gentlemen who sacrifice themselves to the good cause."