“I prefer the red wine, thank you,” de Sigognac said, with a smile, “and will add a little water to it.  I am very temperate by nature and habit, and mingle a certain devotion to the nymphs with my worship at the shrine of Bacchus, as the ancients had it.  But it was not for feasting and drinking that I was guilty of the indiscretion of intruding upon you at this unseemly hour.  Marquis, I have come to ask of you a service that one gentleman never refuses to another.  Mlle. Zerbine has probably related to you something of what took place in the green-room this evening.  The Duke of Vallombreuse made an attempt to lay hands upon Isabelle, under pretext of placing an assassine for her, and was guilty of an insolent, outrageous, and brutal action, unworthy of a gentleman, which was not justified by any coquetry or advances on the part of that young girl, who is as pure as she is modest and for whom I feel the highest respect and esteem.”

“And she deserves it,” said Zerbine heartily, “every word you say of her, as I, who know her thoroughly, can testify.  I could not say anything but good of her, even if I would.”

“I seized the duke’s arm, and stopped him before he had succeeded in what he meant to do,” continued de Sigognac, after a grateful glance at the soubrette; “he was furiously angry, and assailed me with threats and invectives, to which I replied with a mocking sang-froid, from behind my stage mask.  He declared he would have me thrashed by his lackeys, and in effect, as I was coming back to this house, a little while ago, four ruffians fell upon me in the dark, narrow street.  A couple of blows with the flat of my sword did for two of the rascals, while Herode and Scapin put the other two hors-de-combat in fine style.  Although the duke imagined that only a poor actor was concerned, yet as there is also a gentleman in that actor’s skin, such an outrage cannot be committed with impunity.  You know me, marquis, though up to the present moment you have kindly and delicately respected my incognito, for which I thank you.  You know who and what my ancestors were, and can certify that the family of de Sigognac has been noble for more than a thousand years, and that not one who has borne the name has ever had a blot on his scutcheon.”

“Baron de Sigognac,” said the marquis, addressing him for the first time by his own name, “I will bear witness, upon my honour, before whomsoever you may choose to name, to the antiquity and nobility of your family.  Palamede de Sigognac distinguished himself by wonderful deeds of valour in the first crusade, to which he led a hundred lances, equipped, and transported thither, at his own expense.  That was at an epoch when the ancestors of some of the proudest nobles of France to-day were not even squires.  He and Hugues de Bruyeres, my own ancestor, were warm friends, and slept in the same tent as brothers in arms.”