Then, swiftly, still holding him by the hand, she dragged him, with irresistible energy, along a shortcut, following its turns without hesitation in spite of the darkness and the brambles. And they very soon arrived at the drawbridge. She put her arm in his. The gate-keeper touched his cap. They crossed the courtyard and entered the castle; and she led him to the corner tower in which both of them had their apartments: "Come in here," she said. "To your rooms?" "Yes." Two maids were sitting up for her. Their mistress ordered them to retire to their bedrooms, on the third floor. Almost immediately after, there was a knock at the door of the outer room; and a voice called: "Angelique!" "Is that you, father?" she asked, suppressing her agitation. "Yes. Is your husband here?" "We have just come in." "Tell him I want to speak to him. Ask him to come to my room. It's important." "Very well, father, I'll send him to you." She listened for a few seconds, then returned to the boudoir where her husband was and said: "I am sure my father is still there." He moved as though to go out: "In that case, if he wants to speak to me...." "My father is not alone," she said, quickly, blocking his way. "Who is with him?" "His nephew, Jacques d'Emboise." There was a moment's silence. He looked at her with a certain astonishment, failing quite to understand his wife's attitude. But, without pausing to go into the matter: "Ah, so that dear old d'Emboise is there?" he chuckled. "Then the fat's in the fire? Unless, indeed...." "My father knows everything," she said. "I overheard a conversation between them just now. His nephew has read certain letters.... I hesitated at first about telling you.... Then I thought that my duty...." He studied her afresh. But, at once conquered by the queerness of the situation, he burst out laughing: "What? Don't my friends on board ship burn my letters? And they have let their prisoner escape? The idiots! Oh, when you don't see to everything yourself!... No matter, its distinctly humorous.... D'Emboise versus d'Emboise.... Oh, but suppose I were no longer recognized? Suppose d'Emboise himself were to confuse me with himself?" He turned to a wash-hand-stand, took a towel, dipped it in the basin and soaped it and, in the twinkling of an eye, wiped the make-up from his face and altered the set of his hair: "That's it," he said, showing himself to Angelique under the aspect in which she had seen him on the night of the burglary in Paris. "I feel more comfortable like this for a discussion with my father-in-law." "Where are you going?" she cried, flinging herself in front of the door. "Why, to join the gentlemen." "You shall not pass!" "Why not?" "Suppose they kill you?" "Kill me?" "That's what they mean to do, to kill you ... to hide your body somewhere.... Who would know of it?"