"We're not talking of Richon, Monsieur le Duc; Richon is not in question now. Bring me a citizen, a sheriff, a councillor,--somebody to whom I can talk and assure myself that this cup is not without bitterness to those who have put it to my lips." "Luckily enough," said Lenet, "Monsieur d'Espagnet is even now at the door, soliciting the honor of an audience of your Highness." "Admit him," said the princess. Throughout this scene Claire's heart had beaten at times as if it would burst, and again had felt as if it would never beat again. She said to herself that the Bordelais would make Canolles pay dear for his triumph. But it was much worse when Espagnet, by his protestations surpassed Lenet's confident anticipations. "Madame," said he to the princess, "I beg that your Highness will have no fear; instead of four thousand men we will send eight thousand; instead of six pieces of cannon, we will take along twelve; instead of one hundred men, we will lose two, three, four hundred, if need be, but we will take Saint-Georges!" "Bravo! monsieur," cried the duke; "spoken like a man! You know that I am with you, whether as your leader or as a volunteer, as often as you undertake this task. But bear in mind, I beg, that at the rate of five hundred men lost for each of four expeditions like this one, our army will be reduced one-fifth." "Monsieur le Duc," rejoined Espagnet, "we have thirty thousand men in condition to bear arms at Bordeaux; we will drag all the cannon from the arsenal to the fortress, if necessary; we will discharge enough ammunition to reduce a mountain of granite to powder; I will myself cross the river at the head of the sappers, and we will take Saint-Georges; we have just sworn a solemn oath to do it." "I doubt whether you will take Saint-Georges so long as Monsieur de Canolles is alive," said Claire in an almost inaudible voice. "Then we will kill him, or have him killed, and take Saint-Georges afterward," rejoined Espagnet. Madame de Cambes stifled the cry of dismay that came to her lips. "Do you desire to take Saint-Georges?" "Do we desire it!" cried the princess; "I should say as much; we desire little else." "Very well!" said Madame de Cambes, "let me have my way, and I will put the place in your hands." "Bah!" exclaimed the princess; "you promised much the same thing once before and failed." "I promised your Highness to make an attempt to win over Monsieur de Canolles. That attempt failed because I found Monsieur de Canolles inflexible." "Do you expect to find him more easy to approach after his triumph?" "No; for that reason I did not say this time that I would turn over the governor to you, but the place itself." "How so?" "By admitting your soldiers into the very heart of the fortress." "Are you a fairy, madame, that you undertake such a task?" La Rochefoucauld asked her. "No, monsieur, I am a landowner," said the viscountess. "Madame is pleased to jest," retorted the duke.