"I say again, Jarnonville, it is not my life that I wish to save; I must die--I am a miserable wretch--I blush for myself! But let my infamy be kept secret--for my father's sake, for my child's!--Oh! how I suffer!" Léodgard's head fell back, and a livid pallor overspread his face. The chevalier was on the point of going to call Bathilde, when he heard footsteps and voices in the courtyard. The wounded man raised his head and whispered: "Do you hear, Jarnonville? they are coming; those are the soldiers; they are coming to arrest the Comte de Marvejols as a highwayman. I am lost!" "Be calm. Yes, there are footsteps approaching." "And Giovanni's weapon that I have here?" "Give it to me; I will attach it to my belt in place of my sword, and no one will even notice it." In an instant Jarnonville removed his sword and placed it in a corner of the room, and replaced it with the weapon that once belonged to Giovanni. He had hardly made this change, when a servant entered the room, saying: "Monsieur le comte, there is an officer here, accompanied by several men at arms, whom he has stationed in the courtyard. He desires to have the honor of speaking with you. He is sent, he says, by Monseigneur le Cardinal de Richelieu." "By the cardinal!--Very well! admit this officer." The servant left the room; and Léodgard cast an imploring glance at Jarnonville, murmuring: "The cardinal--who has always manifested such a profound regard for my father--it is he who sends----" The entrance of the officer prevented the count from finishing his sentence. The cardinal's agent bowed low before Léodgard and Jarnonville, and began: "Monsieur le comte, a ridiculous report, the falsity of which it will surely be very easy for you to prove, has gained currency this morning in Paris, and has reached the ears of his eminence. Last night, some soldiers of the watch pursued the famous Giovanni; they fired upon him and wounded him, for he left a trail of blood as he fled. However, they lost sight of the robber; but a girl whom they met, and near whom they picked up the robber's cap and false beard, said to them:--I beg pardon, monsieur le comte, it is the girl who is speaking;--she declared to them that the man whom they were pursuing was not Giovanni, but Comte Léodgard de Marvejols. These words would not have deserved to be reported, had it not been for the fact that, by an accident which it will doubtless be easy for you to explain, the blood marks stopped directly in front of your gateway.--Having failed to find you at your house in Rue de Bretonvilliers, I have been sent here. Monsieur le cardinal would be glad, monsieur le comte, if you would take the trouble to call upon him, so that a few words from you may suffice to put an end to an abominable calumny."