He was turning the little case over and over in his hands, again examining the clasps of it. His next freak was to snatch his pistol and look to the priming. I burst out laughing, for his antics seemed absurd. My laughter cooled him, and he made a great effort to regain his composure. But I began to rally him. "Mayn't a man know how to say in French 'He comes' without stealing the knowledge from your book, sir?" I asked. "You do us wrong if you think that so much is known to nobody in England." He glared at me like a man who hears a jest, but cannot tell whether it conceals earnest or not. "Open the case, sir," I continued in raillery. "Make sure all is there. Come, you owe me that much." To my amazement he obeyed me. He opened the case and searched through certain papers which it contained; at the end he sighed as though in relief, yet his suspicious air did not leave him. "Now perhaps, sir," said I, squaring my elbows, "you'll explain the comedy." That he could not do. The very impossibility of any explanation showed that I had, in the most unexpected fashion, stumbled on some secret with him even as I had before with Darrell. Was his secret Darrell's or his own, the same or another? What it was I could not tell, but for certain there it was. He had no resource but to carry the matter with a high hand, and to this he betook himself with the readiness of his nation. "You ask an explanation, sir?" he cried. "There's nothing to explain, and if there were, I give explanations when I please, and not to every fellow who chooses to ask them of me." "I come, thou comest, he comes,--'tis a very mysterious phrase," said I. "I can't tell what it means. And if you won't tell me, sir, I must ask others." "You'll be wiser to ask nobody," he said menacingly. "Nay, I shall be no wiser if I ask nobody," I retorted with a smile. "Yet you'll tell nobody of what has passed," said he, advancing towards me with the plain intention of imposing his will on me by fear, since persuasion failed. I rose to my feet and answered, mimicking his insolent words, "I give promises, sir, when I please, and not to every fellow who chooses to ask them of me." "You shall give me your promise before you leave this room," he cried. His voice had been rising in passion and was now loud and fierce. Whether the sound of it had reached the room above, or whether the Duke and Carford had grown weary of one another, I do not know, but as the French gentleman uttered this last threat Carford opened the door, stood aside to let his Grace enter, and followed himself. As they came in, we were in a most hostile attitude; for the Frenchman's pistol was in his hand, and my hand had flown to the hilt of my sword. The Duke looked at us in astonishment.