"Do you know that I have a private seal which imparts the fullest authority to those documents to which it is affixed?" "It is said, furthermore, that the damned bully wounds or kills recklessly every one who ventures to oppose him." "Do you not know that a bodyguard of twenty-four men-at-arms is at my orders night and day?" "They say that he attacked a goldsmith against whom he had a grudge, although he was surrounded by a guard of sixty men." "You forget that the Hôtel de Nesle is fortified, that the walls are crenellated, and there are machicoulis above the doors, to say nothing of the city fortifications which render it impregnable on one side." "It is said that he is as thoroughly at home in the science of sieges as Bayard or Antonio de Leyra." "As to that we shall see." "I am sorely afraid." "I will bide my time." "Look you, my dear friend, will you allow me to offer you a little advice?" "Say on, so that it be brief." "Do not try to struggle with one who is stronger than you." "Stronger than I, a paltry Italian mechanic! Viscount, you exasperate me!" "You may find reason to repent, 'pon honor! I speak whereof I know." "Viscount, you try my temper." "Consider that the fellow has the king on his side." "And I have Madame d'Etampes." "His Majesty may take it ill of you to resist his will." "I have already done it, Monsieur, and successfully." "Yes, I know, in the matter of the toll at the bridge of Mantes. But--" "But what?" "One risks nothing, or very little at all events, in resisting a weak, good-natured king, while one risks everything in entering into a contest with a powerful, formidable opponent like Benvenuto Cellini." "By Mahomet's belly, Viscount, do you propose to drive me mad?" "On the contrary, my purpose is to make you discreet." "Enough, Viscount, enough! Ah! the villain shall pay dear, I swear, for these moments that your friendship has caused me to pass." "God grant it, Provost! God grant it!" "Very good, very good! You have nothing else to tell me?" "No, no, I believe not," the viscount replied, as if he were trying to recall some item of news which would make a fitting pendant to the other. "Very well, adieu!" cried the provost. "Adieu, my poor friend!" "Adieu!" "At all events I have given you warning." "Adieu!" "I shall have no reason to reproach myself: that consoles me." "Adieu! adieu!" "Good luck attend you! But I must say that I express that wish with but little hope of its being gratified." "Adieu! adieu! adieu!" "Adieu!" And the Vicomte de Marmagne, sighing as if his heart would burst, and with grief-stricken face, took his departure, gesticulating mournfully, after he had pressed the provost's hand as if he were saying farewell to him forever. The provost followed him, and with his own hands secured the street door behind him.