“And why this visit? ‘They that be whole need not a physician—’ You know the rest.” “Pardon me, monsieur, it is my humble wish that you accompany me to a carriage that stands hard by.” “And how if I decline to come?” Dr. Beauvais shrugged his shoulders. “Monsieur will surely not oblige us to use force?” Force? Oh, why had De Vaucluse refused him a sword? With that in his hand he would have faced the nine. But without a weapon he was entirely in their power. Good-bye now to his hopes of a duel with the Czar! He saw that some one, friendly to Alexander, had got to know of the coming fight, and, with a view of preventing it, had sent these men to carry him off. “Use force,” he said, repeating the other’s words. “That may bring trouble upon you. I am here to meet the Czar by his special desire. Remove me, and you make a mock of his majesty.” “It is because we know the nature of this intended meeting that we are here to prevent it.” “You are prepared to face the Czar’s displeasure?” “We are prepared to do the bidding of the person that sent us. Time presses; I must ask you to accompany me.” Vain would it be for Wilfrid to threaten Beauvais with the name of his uncle, Lord St. Helens. If the doctor cared little for an emperor, he was likely to care still less for an ambassador. Physical resistance was certain to end in his humiliation, at least in the hut; but outside in the free air it might be possible to break through the ring of his captors and escape by fleetness of foot. But the doctor had read his thoughts. “You must pledge your word of honour as an English gentleman that you will not seek to escape; that when in the coach you will raise no cry for help, make no sign to passers-by; nay, that you will not venture even to peer through the blinds. Of course, if monsieur, instead of travelling pleasantly and comfortably, prefers to be corded and gagged——” Wilfrid gave the required pledge, adding, with a hard smile:— “Lead on. At present you are master of the situation; ere long I may be; in which case, Dr. Beauvais, a mere apology will not content me.”