He stopped short, abashed by the look on Tantaine’s face.

“It strikes me,” resumed the doctor, a little mortified, “that my proposal is not utterly ridiculous, and certainly deserves some consideration.”

“Perhaps so; but is it a practical one?”

“I see no reason why it should not be.”

“Indeed, then, you look at the thing in a very different manner to myself.  We are too far advanced, my dear doctor, to be our own masters.  We must go on, and have no option to do otherwise.  To beat a retreat would simply be to invite our enemies to fall upon our disorganized battalions.  We must give battle; and as the first to strike has always the best chance of victory, we must strive to take the initiative.”

“The idea is good, but these are mere words.”

“Was the secret that we confided to De Croisenois only words?”

This thrust went home.

“Do you mean that you think he would betray us?” said he.

“Why should he not if it were to his interests to do so?  Reflect, Croisenois is almost at the end of his tether.  We have dangled the line of a princely fortune before his eyes.  Do you think he would do nothing if we were to say, ’Excuse us, but we made a mistake; poor as you are, so you must remain, for we do not intend to help you?’”

“But is it necessary to say that at all?”

“Well, at any rate, whatever we choose to say, what limit do you think he will place upon his extortions now that he holds our secret?  We have taught him his music, and he will make us do our part in the chorus, and can blackmail us as well as we can others.”

“We played a foolish game,” answered Dr. Hortebise moodily.

“No; we had to confide in some one.  Besides, the two affairs, that of Madame de Mussidan and the Duke de Champdoce, ran so well together.  They were the simultaneous emanations of my brain.  I worked them up together, and together they must stand or fall.”

“Then you are determined to go on?”

“Yes; more determined than ever.”

The doctor had been playing with his locket for some time, and the contact of the cold metal seemed to have affected his nerves; for it was in a trembling voice that he replied,—­

“I vowed long ago that we should sink or swim together.”  He paused, and then, with a melancholy smile upon his face, continued,—­“I have no intention of breaking my oath, you see; but I repeat, that your road seems to be a most perilous one, and I will add that I consider you headstrong and self-opinionated; but for all that I will follow you, even though the path you have chosen leads to the grave.  I have at this moment a something between my fingers that will save me from shame and disgrace—­a little pill to be swallowed, a gasp, a little dizziness, and all is over.”

Tantaine did not seem to care for the doctor’s explanation.