"Yes, monsieur, I do. Pretend to know nothing of it; affect amazement; you are evidently a clever comedian; but you will not make me the dupe of your grimaces or your words, although they harmonize so perfectly with one another." "I pretend nothing, madame. How can your Highness say that I know what took place at Vayres, when I have never been there?" "Subterfuge, monsieur, subterfuge!" "I have nothing to say in reply to such words, madame, except that your Highness seems displeased with me. I pray your Highness to forgive the frankness of my character for the freedom with which I make bold to defend myself,--I was of the opinion that I had reason to complain of you." "To complain of me, monsieur!" cried the princess, amazed at his audacity. "Most assuredly, madame," rejoined Cauvignac, with undiminished self-possession; "relying upon your word and that of Monsieur Lenet here present, I levy a company of gallant fellows, and I enter into agreements with them, which are the more sacred in that they are in almost every instance merely verbal agreements. And lo! when I ask your Highness for the amount agreed upon,--a mere trifle, thirty or forty thousand livres,--to be used, not for myself, observe, but for the new defenders of the cause of Messieurs les Princes recruited by me, your Highness refuses to give them to me; yes, refuses me! I appeal to Monsieur Lenet." "It is true," said Lenet; "when monsieur made his demand, we had no money." "And could you not wait a few days, monsieur? Was your fidelity and that of your men a matter of a moment?" "I waited the length of time that Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld himself asked me to wait, madame,--a week. At the end of the week I made my appearance again, and was then met with a formal refusal; once more I appeal to Monsieur Lenet." The princess turned to her adviser with compressed lips, and eyes darting fire from beneath her frowning brow. "Unfortunately," said Lenet, "I am forced to admit that what monsieur says is the exact truth." Cauvignac drew himself up triumphantly. "Tell me, madame," said he, "what would a schemer have done under such circumstances? He would have sold himself and his men to the queen. But I, who have a horror of intrigue, dismissed my company, and released every man from his agreement; and, being left entirely alone, I maintained absolute neutrality; I did what the sage advises the man who is in doubt to do,--I held aloof." "But your soldiers, monsieur, your soldiers!" cried the princess, excitedly. "Madame," Cauvignac retorted, "as I am neither king nor prince, but a simple captain; as I have neither subjects nor vassals, I call no soldiers mine, save those whom I pay; and as those whom you call mine were, as Monsieur Lenet affirms, not paid at all, they were free. Thereupon they turned against their new leader. What was I to do? I confess that I do not know."