'Peste! we shall see that,' replied De Bitche, with a coarse laugh, as he twisted up his moustache, and continued to speak in this style, amusing himself with my situation, as a cat plays with the mouse it means to devour; 'you love Mademoiselle de Lorraine?' said he, with mock softness. 'You are the last man in the world to whom I would make any such admission. Neither do I wish to hear her name from your polluted lips.' 'Mighty well, mon brave!' said he, with flashing eyes; 'we shall see how long this gallant bearing lasts. You would do anything to serve mademoiselle; you would even lay down your life to insure the happiness of hers, I presume?' 'I would--Heaven knows I would, with joy!' 'Oh! 'tis a mere trifle that, when we love a woman; so I shall give you, my dear fellow, an opportunity of performing that pretty trifle.' 'What do you mean, M. le Comte?' said I, making a step towards him; but he placed the table between himself and me, and kept a hand on his pistols. 'You shall see. But ha! what is that?' 'A shot--another and another!' I exclaimed with joy, as we heard three dropping and distant shots. Then followed the closer rattle of musketry, and the sound of a drum beaten rapidly. 'And now hark! My fellows answer from the tête-du-point; your comrades have come within range; they are, I repeat, most welcome to Phalsbourg. Anon I will be with them. And now for you: mademoiselle knows your handwriting?' 'She does--having frequently seen it at Paris.' 'And your signature too, probably?' 'Yes.' 'Then take pen and ink, and write after me.' 'Excuse me, M. le Comte,' said I, trembling with exultation, as I saw a brigade of French artillery, consisting of ten pieces of cannon, on field carriages, with tumbrils and waggons, each drawn by four horses, pass at full gallop along the green brow of the opposite hill, while the head of a column of infantry appeared beyond it, with pikes glittering and standards waving. Then the ordnance were wheeled into position, as the cannoniers and fire-casters sprang from their seats, unlimbered and proceeded to load. 'Excuse me,' I continued, 'but there are some features in yonder landscape so very interesting that I must look for a moment.' 'Yonder preparations are of no moment to you,' said De Bitche, stamping his foot and growing pale with anger, as he drew a pistol from his belt and cocked it, 'take up that pen and write as I dictate, or'--and he swore an oath too frightful for me to repeat--'I will lay you, where I have laid many a better man,--dead at my feet.'