“Do not stir, messieurs, or you are dead men.”  Both, although encumbered by their burden, laid their hands upon their swords.

“Not a movement, not a sound, or I shoot.”

There was no reply to this argument, it being a convincing one even for two duellists.  The bravest man turns pale when he finds himself face to face with sudden inevitable death, and he who threatened seemed to be one who would, without hesitation, carry out his threats.  There was nothing for it but obedience, or a ball through them as they stood.

“What do you want with us, sir?” asked Jeannin.

Quennebert, without changing his attitude, replied—­

“Commander de Jars, and you, Messire Jeannin de Castille, king’s treasurer,—­you see, my gentles, that besides the advantage of arms which strike swiftly and surely, I have the further advantage of knowing who you are, whilst I am myself unknown,—­you will carry the wounded man into this house, into which I will not enter, for I have nothing to do within; but I shall remain here; to await your return.  After you have handed over the patient to the doctor, you will procure paper and write—–­now pay great attention—­that on November 20th, 1658, about midnight, you, aided by an unknown man, carried to this house, the address of which you will give, a young man whom you call the Chevalier de Moranges, and pass off as your nephew—­”

“As he really is.”

“Very well.”

“But who told you—?”

“Let me go on:  who had been wounded in a fight with swords on the same night behind the church of Saint-Andre-des-Arts by the Duc de Vitry.”

“The Duc de Vitry!—­How do you know that?”

“No matter how, I know it for a fact.  Having made this declaration, you will add that the said Chevalier de Moranges is no other than Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois, whom you, commander, abducted four months ago from the convent of La Raquette, whom you have made your mistress, and whom you conceal disguised as a man; then you will add your signature.  Is my information correct?”

De Jars and Jeannin were speechless with surprise for a few instants; then the former stammered—­

“Will you tell us who you are?”

“The devil in person, if you like.  Well, will you do as I order?  Supposing that I am awkward enough not to kill you at two paces, do you want me to ask you in broad daylight and aloud what I now ask at night and in a whisper?  And don’t think to put me off with a false declaration, relying on my not being able to read it by the light of the moon; don’t think either that you can take me by surprise when you hand it me:  you will bring it to me with your swords sheathed as now.  If this condition is not observed, I shall fire, and the noise will bring a crowd about us.  To-morrow I shall speak differently from to-day:  I shall proclaim the truth at all the street corners, in the squares, and under the windows of the Louvre.  It is hard, I know, for men of spirit to yield to threats, but recollect that you are in my power and that there is no disgrace in paying a ransom for a life that one cannot defend.  What do you say?”