With that, he overturned his arm-chair with a wrathful gesture, and stalked out of the room with his head in the air, like a man strong in the consciousness of duty well done, and indifferent to the possible results thereof. "Insolent!" muttered the princess. "No matter! no matter! let him have his way," said several; "Master Lavie's turn will come." "Let us vote!" exclaimed the judges, almost as one man. "But why vote without hearing the accused?" said Lenet. "Perhaps one of them will seem to you more guilty than the other. Perhaps you will conclude to concentrate upon a single head the vengeance which you now propose to divide between two." At that moment the outer door was heard a second time. "Very good!" said the princess, "we will vote upon both at once." The judges, who had left their seats in disorder, sat down once more. Again the sound of footsteps was heard, accompanied by the ringing of halberds on the flags; the door opened once more and Cauvignac appeared. The newcomer presented a striking contrast to Canolles; his garments still showed the effects of his encounter with the populace, despite the pains he had taken to efface them; his eyes glanced hastily from the sheriffs to the officers, from the dukes to the princess, embracing the whole tribunal in a sort of circular glance; then, with the air of a fox devising a stratagem, he came forward, feeling the ground at every step, so to speak, with every faculty on the alert, but pale and visibly disturbed. "Your Highness did me the honor to summon me to your presence," he began, without waiting to be questioned. "Yes, monsieur, for I desired to be enlightened upon certain points relative to yourself, which cause us some perplexity." "In that case," rejoined Cauvignac, with a bow, "I am here, madame, ready to requite the honor your Highness is pleased to confer upon me." He bowed with the most graceful air he could muster, but it was clearly lacking in ease and naturalness. "That you may do very speedily," said the princess, "if your answers are as definite as our questions." "Allow me to remind your Highness," said Cauvignac, "that, as the question is always prepared beforehand, and the response never, it is more difficult to respond than to question." "Oh! our questions will be so clear and precise," said the princess, "that you will be spared any necessity for reflecting upon them. Your name?" "Ah! madame, there you are! there is a most embarrassing question, first of all." "How so?" "It often happens that one has two names, the name one has received from his family, and the name one has received from himself. Take my own case as an example: I thought that I had sufficient reason for laying aside my first name in favor of another less widely known; which of the two names do you require me to give you?"