"They may force from you, by means of tortures, the names of those--" Gaston's reply was a smile of supreme disdain. "You are a foreigner and a Spaniard, monseigneur," said he, "and do not know what a French gentleman is, therefore I pardon you." "Then I may reckon on your silence?" "Pontcalec, Du Couëdic, Talhouet, and Montlouis, doubted me for an instant, and have since apologized to me for doing so." "Well, monsieur, I will think seriously of what you have said, but in your place--" "In my place?" "I would renounce this enterprise." "I wish I had never entered into it, monseigneur, I own, for since I did so a great change has taken place in my life, but I am in it, and must accomplish it." "Even if I refuse to second you?" "The Breton committee have provided for that emergency." "And decided--" "To do without you." "Then your resolution--" "Is irrevocable." "I have said all I had to say," replied the regent, "since you are determined to pursue your undertaking." "Monseigneur," said Gaston, "you seem to wish to retire." "Have you anything more to say to me?" "Not to-day; to-morrow, or the day after." "You have the captain as go-between--when he gives me notice I will receive you with pleasure." "Monseigneur," said Gaston firmly, and with a noble air, "let me speak freely. We should have no go-between; you and I--so evidently separated by rank and station--are equal before the scaffold which threatens us. I have even a superiority over you, since I run the greater danger; however, you are now, monseigneur, a conspirator, like the Chevalier de Chanlay, with this difference: that you have the right--being the chief--to see his head fall before yours--let me, then, treat as an equal with your excellency, and see you when it is necessary." The regent thought for a moment. "Very well," said he, "this house is not my residence; you understand I do not receive many at my house: since the war, my position is precarious and delicate in France; Cellamare is in prison at Blois; I am only a sort of consul--good as a hostage--I cannot use too many precautions." The regent lied with a painful effort. "Write, then, poste restante to M. Andre, you must name the time at which you wish to see me, and I will be there." "Through the post?" asked Gaston. "Yes, it is only a delay of three hours; at each post a man will watch for your letter, and bring it to me when it arrives; three hours after you can come here." "Your excellency forgets," said Gaston, laughing, "that I do not know where I am, in what street, at what number; I came by night. Stay, let us do better than that; you asked for time to reflect, take till to-morrow morning, and at eleven o'clock send for me. We must arrange a plan beforehand, that it may not fail, like those plans where a carriage or a shower of rain disconcerts everything."