‘Is the door closed?’ I said sweetly. ‘Thank you; it is, I see. Then permit me to say again, gentlemen, that I am much more surprised to see you than you can be to see me. For when Monseigneur the Cardinal honoured me by sending me from Paris to conduct this matter, he gave me the fullest--the fullest powers, M. le Capitaine--to see the affair to an end. I was not led to expect that my plans would be spoiled on the eve of success by the intrusion of half the garrison from Auch.’ ‘Oh, ho!’ the Captain said softly--in a very different tone, and with a very different face. ‘So you are the gentleman I heard of at Auch?’ ‘Very likely,’ I said drily. ‘But I am from Paris, not from Auch.’ ‘To be sure,’ he answered thoughtfully. ‘Eh, Lieutenant?’ ‘Yes, M. le Capitaine, no doubt,’ the inferior replied. And they both looked at one another, and then at me, in a way I did not understand. ‘I think,’ said I, to clinch the matter, ‘that you have made a mistake, Captain; or the Commandant has. And it occurs to me that the Cardinal will not be best pleased.’ ‘I hold the King’s commission,’ he answered rather stiffly. ‘To be sure,’ I replied. ‘But, you see, the Cardinal--’ ‘Ay, but the Cardinal--’ he rejoined quickly; and then he stopped and shrugged his shoulders. And they both looked at me. ‘Well?’ I said. ‘The King,’ he answered slowly. ‘Tut-tut!’ I exclaimed, spreading out my hands. ‘The Cardinal. Let us stick to him. You were saying?’ ‘Well, the Cardinal, you see--’ And then again, after the same words, he stopped--stopped abruptly, and shrugged his shoulders. I began to suspect something. ‘If you have anything to say against Monseigneur,’ I answered, watching him narrowly, ‘say it. But take a word of advice. Don’t let it go beyond the door of this room, my friend, and it will do you no harm.’ ‘Neither here nor outside,’ he retorted, looking for a moment at his comrade. ‘Only I hold the King’s commission. That is all, and, I think, enough.’ ‘Well--for the rest, will you throw a main?’ he answered evasively. ‘Good! Lieutenant, find a glass, and the gentleman a seat. And here, for my part, I will give you a toast The Cardinal--whatever betide!’